U.S. trip a test for new Japanese foreign minister

Foreign minister Tanaka honors U.S. war dead at the weekend

WASHINGTON -- Japan's plain-speaking foreign minister Makiko Tanaka faces a key test of her diplomatic skills on Monday when she meets U.S. secretary of state Colin Powell during her first visit to the United States since taking office.

The trip is an opportunity for Japan's first female foreign minister to reassure Washington she does not tilt toward China and to prove to skeptics at home she can handle her job.

Tanaka has been in the hot seat since media reports last month that she had raised questions about Washington's missile defense strategy and the two-way alliance -- the cornerstone of Japan's diplomacy -- in talks with foreign counterparts.

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Tanaka has denied the reports, which she said were leaked by bureaucrats furious at her efforts to shake up the stodgy and scandal-tainted foreign ministry.

She said she wanted to visit the United States to clear things up before prime minister Junichiro Koizumi meets president George W. Bush on June 30.

Given the furor, the meeting with Powell is being watched at least as closely as her diplomatic debut in Beijing last month.

Tanaka told reporters in Philadelphia, which she visited on Sunday, that she was looking forward to meeting Powell.

Referring to Bush's just-completed visit to Europe, she said: "It appears the international situation may be changing and that, after hearing Europe's opinions on missile defense and the Kyoto global warming treaty, the U.S. stance could perhaps change.

"I am very interested in hearing about this directly."

Care is needed

"Tomorrow I will discuss the Japan-U.S. security relationship and the forces in Okinawa as well as the Bush missile defense plan," she said later.

Domestic Japanese media have said that she may ask for some training drills by U.S. marines to be shifted to the Pacific island of Guam, a U.S. territory, to reduce the massive U.S. military presence in the southern Japanese island of Okinawa.

Analysts, however, have warned that Tanaka -- known for her blunt speech -- will have to move delicately to avoid creating problems for Koizumi.

Tanaka's blunt speaking could cause problems for prime minister Koizumi

Trouble for Tanaka could spell headaches for Koizumi, now riding a wave of popularity that he hopes will help him implement painful economic and political reforms opposed by some old-style heavyweights in his own ruling party.

Popular with the public but disliked by many within the dominant Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), Tanaka has been locked in a feud with bureaucrats since taking office in April.

The missile issue may be particularly difficult.

Japan is studying with Washington a theater missile defense system aimed at shielding U.S. troops in Asia and its allies.

But Tokyo has stopped short of full endorsement of a national defense shield to protect the United States, partly to avoid angering China, which says the plan would spark an arms race. The U.S. proposal has also been resisted in Europe.

Defense Minister General Nakatani told a Japanese talk television show on Sunday that while Japan will continue studying the theater missile defense system, it has no plans to join the United States in a new missile defense initiative.

He added that participation in a system that involves defending the United States could cause potential conflicts with Japan's pacifist constitution.

Reafirming ties

Tanaka's meeting with Powell gives her the opportunity to reassure the United States she does not lean toward China.

Tanaka's late father, Kakuei, normalized ties with China in 1972 while prime minister, and her trips as an informal "first lady" enabled her to forge bonds with China's communist elite.

Tanaka vowed after taking office to keep her top priority on ties with Washington but raised eyebrows soon after when she canceled a tentative meeting with deputy secretary of state Richard Armitage on the missile defense plan.

Armitage may be at Tanaka's meeting with Powell, but no separate meeting is scheduled.

In a busy morning of meetings on Monday, Tanaka is also set to meet U.S. trade representative Robert Zoellick and national security adviser Condoleezza Rice.

The busy schedule may at least partly be a response to widespread criticism of Tanaka's using Sunday for a private visit to Philadelphia, where she attended high school.

Reuters contributed to this report.