Japan is racing to meet Trump before his summit with Xi Jinping, a sign that Tokyo is worried the US could soften its Taiwan stance — bad news for Taiwan if Beijing gets its way, but a signal that Japan is pushing back.

• Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi will meet Trump on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York, two days before the Trump-Xi meeting on September 24.
• Beijing wants Trump to change long-standing US wording from "does not support Taiwan independence" to "opposes Taiwan independence," a small shift in words that China would sell as the US moving toward its position.
• Japan wants Trump to keep the current wording because a change would affect how Beijing judges US willingness to defend Taiwan, which directly touches Japan's southwestern islands and the wider Indo-Pacific security setup.
• A US arms sale to Taiwan worth up to $14 billion is still waiting for Trump's approval, and House China committee chair John Moolenaar has urged Trump not to weaken it under pressure from Beijing.

Outlook: What matters after the Trump-Xi meeting is the exact words Trump uses on Taiwan and whether the arms sale goes through — Beijing will try to frame any shift as a US policy turn.