Japan's Tanaka survives debut, faces tougher tests

By Teruaki Ueno

TOKYO (Reuters): Japan's popular but controversial foreign minister, Makiko Tanaka, survived her overseas debut last week but tough tests of her diplomatic skills are far from over.

The straight-talking Tanaka, daughter of late political kingmaker Kakuei Tanaka and Japan's first female foreign minister, reaped neither rave reviews nor harsh criticism for her initial foray last week into the delicate world of diplomacy.

Diplomatic experts had been watching closely how Tanaka, 57, would handle Japan's bitter squabbles with Beijing and Seoul over wartime history and present-day trade.

While making no concessions, Tanaka won assurances from her Chinese counterpart Tang Jiaxuan that Beijing would not make "unreasonable demands" in the bilateral spats.

Some Japanese officials and analysts took that to mean Tanaka was benefiting from China's gratitude to her late father, Prime Minister Kakuei Tanaka, who normalized ties with Beijing in 1972.

Makiko, who often traveled with her father as an informal "first lady", forged ties to China's communist elite including Tang, who once served in Tokyo as a diplomat.

But some analysts said her failure to suggest some solution to issues between the two Asian powers could be a sign that Japan's domestic situation was preventing Tanaka from effectively carrying out her own style of diplomacy.

"On her overseas debut, she could not take any 'souvenir' to China," said Nozomu Akizuki, a professor of Asian diplomacy at Tokyo's Meiji Gakuin University.

"That means Japan is in an environment where the foreign minister cannot do diplomacy the way she wants."

Japan and China have been clashing over several issues, including Japanese history textbooks which Beijing says whitewash Tokyo's wartime atrocities. Japan's approval of the textbooks, intended for children aged 13-15, has sparked disputes with both China and South Korea.

Ties with Asian neighbors were further strained this month when Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi said he planned to visit a Shinto shrine honoring the war dead, including war criminals.

"Japan is in a difficult position in its ties with Asian neighbors, particularly with China," Akizuki said. "She will walk a rough road."

Tanaka's next formidable diplomatic task will come when she makes an expected visit to Washington next month.

"There is no doubt that her trip to the United States will be the next major hurdle," a Foreign Ministry official said.

Tanaka is likely to arrive at a time of turmoil in Washington following last week's defection of Vermont Senator James Jeffords from the Republican Party, which ended Republican control of the chamber and spells trouble for President George W. Bush's policy initiatives such as a national missile defense shield.

Japanese government officials said they had yet to figure out just what impact the new balance of power in the U.S. Senate would have on U.S.-Japan relations, which Bush has said he wants to make a linchpin for foreign and security policies.

"It's hard to predict at the moment. Mind you, we haven't even seen the Bush administration's policy on Japan," a Japanese Foreign Ministry official said.

Tanaka vowed after taking over her portfolio to keep top priority on ties with Washington but also said it might be time to consider reviewing the status of U.S. forces in Japan.

She also raised eyebrows when she canceled a tentatively scheduled meeting with U.S. Deputy Secretary Richard Armitage, who was in Tokyo earlier this month for talks on America's missile defense strategy.

Armitage was one of the bi-partisan experts who urged Japan late last year to revise its Constitution to allow it to defend allies and take part in multilateral peacekeeping operations.

Koizumi has himself called for a closer security alliance between Tokyo and Washington and wants to change the official interpretation of Japan's 1947 Constitution that bans it from exercising the right to collective self-defense.

A series of crimes by U.S. military personnel has kept local anger simmering in the southern Japan island of Okinawa, reluctant home to 25,000 of the 48,000 U.S. military personnel in Japan.

Tanaka last week denied any intention to favor Beijing over Washington. "The media say I am pro-Chinese and anti-American. But that's about my father, not me," she told reporters.

Analysts say she has no option but to stick to Japan's conventional policies, walking a fine line between China and the United States.

In an apparent attempt to avoid angering China, Japan has steered clear of offering full-fledged support for Washington's ambitious missile defense plans.

Tokyo and Washington boosted their military alliance in 1998 to its highest level since the end of World War II, setting off fears in China that the stronger ties were aimed at protecting Taiwan in the event of Chinese military action.