Chinese leader Xi Jinping told the late Prime Minister Shinzo Abe he probably wouldn’t have joined the Communist Party if he’d been born in the U.S., but would have been a member of the Democratic or Republican parties.
"In other words, he didn’t see any point in a party that doesn’t wield political power,” Abe is cited as saying in a memoir released Wednesday in Japan, seven months after the former Japanese leader was fatally shot on the campaign trail.
The book, based on interviews with Japan’s longest-serving prime minister, relates details of his interactions with other global leaders including Russian President Vladimir Putin — described as "surprisingly friendly” and fond of dark humor. Former U.S. President Donald Trump is portrayed as inclined to make long phone calls, mostly about golf.