China talks will test Japan's Tanaka

Tanaka's roadshow will showcase issues

TOKYO, Japan (Reuters) -- Japanese Foreign Minister Makiko Tanaka faces the first real test of her diplomatic mettle when she tries to mend fences with Asian neighbors at talks in Beijing this week.

The overseas debut by Tanaka, the daughter of late political kingmaker Kakuei Tanaka and Japan's first female foreign minister, comes as Tokyo is locked in thorny disputes with Beijing and Seoul over wartime history and current-day trade.

Tanaka will hold bilateral talks with her counterparts from China and South Korea on the sidelines of a two-day gathering of top diplomats from Asia and Europe starting on Thursday.

Her closely watched performance in Beijing could affect both the scope of Japan's diplomatic clout in the region and the credibility of the highly popular government of Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi, Japanese analysts and officials said.

"Depending on the way Japan handles issues involving Northeast Asian countries, Japan's diplomatic role in the region could drastically weaken," said Nozomu Akizuki, a professor of Asian diplomacy at Tokyo's Meiji Gakuin University.

"In that context, the focus will be placed on how China will deal with Foreign Minister Tanaka."

But while Tanaka boasts close ties with China's communist elite, her performance risks being undercut by her recent high-profile jousting with bureaucrats at home over personnel and policies.

The daughter of late prime minister Kakuei Tanaka, who in 1972 normalized ties with Beijing, Makiko, 57, has ties to Chinese officials including Foreign Minister Tang Jiaxuan.

Those connections could help to dampen China's appetite for a diplomatic offensive against Japan, Meiji Gakuin's Akizuki said.

"I believe Foreign Minister Tanaka will serve as something of a breakwater against Chinese pressure," he said. "It will be difficult for China to put pressure directly on the daughter of Kakuei Tanaka."

The two giant neighbors are clashing over several issues, including an April visit by former Taiwan President Lee Teng-hui.

Lee's April visit for medical treatment prompted angry protests from China, which accuses him of making overseas trips as part of his drive for the independence of Taiwan, which Beijing regards the island as a renegade province.

Wartime history is also causing tensions.

Both China and South Korea want revisions to a textbook that Tokyo approved earlier this year and which critics say glosses over Japan's wartime atrocities.

Education ministry officials have said revisions could be made only if factual errors were found. Last week Koizumi said Japan would make no changes.

Known for his nationalistic tinge, Koizumi has also angered China by pledging a pilgrimage to Yasukuni Shrine in Tokyo.

The Shinto religious shrine honors the nation's war dead, including some convicted war criminals.

Trade is also proving a prickly regional problem.

Last month, Japan for the first time slapped emergency import curbs under the World Trade Organisation's (WTO) safeguard mechanism on three agricultural items from China after domestic makers complained about the surge in such imports.

It is also considering curbs on cheap towel imports from China and Vietnam.

Battling bureaucrats

Ranked as one of Japan's most popular politicians for her outspoken ways, Tanaka has added to the reformist image of and public support for the wildly popular Koizumi.

Her attempt to put elite bureaucrats in their place by freezing personnel assignments and sloughing off their advice has received public support, but has also sparked criticism from ruling party elders that she is endangering national interests.

Tanaka came under fire in parliament this week after Japanese media reported that she had assured Beijing that Tokyo would issue no more visas to Taiwan's Lee -- a position that would appear to put her at odds with Koizumi, who supported the move.

A subdued Tanaka was tightlipped on the reports.

Ministry officials are hardly giving her a resounding vote of confidence.

"We have a package of issues; Lee Teng-hui, textbooks and Yasukuni," one senior Japanese government official said. "Can she handle them all well at once?" Said another top-level bureaucrat: "You can't do diplomacy solely based on sentimentalism. She is still in training."

Reuters contributed to this report.