(Bloomberg) — Chinese leader Xi Jinping criticized Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi for her defense push during his summit with US President Donald Trump in Beijing, the Financial Times reported, citing people familiar with the meeting.

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Xi became vocal and agitated when discussing Japan’s increased military spending with Trump during their summit earlier this month, the report said, surprising US officials. Several people said Xi’s criticism was the most heated part of the summit, the report said, adding that Trump administration officials were caught off guard as Japan did not feature as a topic in bilateral talks leading up to the summit.

Trump told Xi that Takaichi has had to take a more assertive security stance due to the rising threat from North Korea, the FT said. Japan has recently scrapped most restrictions around the sale of military hardware and Takaichi has signaled a softening of its anti-nuclear weapon principles, which have also drawn rebukes from China.

Takaichi and Trump spoke on the phone after the China summit and agreed to communicate on key matters in the Indo-Pacific region, but neither government provided details on what was discussed.

Japan’s Chief Cabinet Secretary Minoru Kihara declined to comment on the report on Monday, saying that Japan is not in a position to speak on the matter given it is not directly involved.

“I will decline from commenting further on the matter given this is a diplomatic matter,” Kihara said, although he noted that Takaichi has said Trump “supported Japan” during the Xi meeting.

Kihara also said that China’s claims that there was a rise of militarism in Japan were “entirely unfounded.”

“There is no change to our policy in pursuing peace,” he said, adding that the extent of Japan’s recent boost in defense capabilities is limited to the bare minimum.

Relations between Beijing and Tokyo remain tense following Takaichi’s remarks last year suggesting that a Chinese invasion of Taiwan may justify Japan deploying its military.

China has imposed a series of measures in retaliation, including trade curbs and discouraging travel to the Japan. Chinese leadership sees Taiwan as part of its own territory and hasn’t ruled out using force to bring the self-ruled island under its control.

Japanese Trade Minister Ryosei Akazawa and Chinese Commerce Minister Wang Wentao had a brief chat on Friday, the first ministerial-level exchange of words between the two nations since a diplomatic standoff started in November.

Akazawa said he approached Wang at a dinner of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation’s trade chiefs in Suzhou, China. He declined to say what they discussed when he spoke to reporters on Saturday.

Takaichi and other members of her government have maintained that Japan remains open to discussion and communication with China since the standoff, but there have been no official high-level meetings between Japan and China in recent months.

–With assistance from Sakura Murakami, Eddy Duan and Molly Smith.

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