Internal spat in Japanese Govt spills onto world stage

A domestic turf battle between Japan's outspoken foreign minister and her bureaucratic underlings has spilled out on the world stage, with ripples felt in Europe, the US and Australia.

At the centre of the drama is a series of news reports alleging that Foreign Minister Makiko Tanaka recently criticized US plans for a missile defence shield in private talks with foreign leaders.

Critics have attacked Tanaka for undermining Japan’s neutral position on the missile shield and possibly damaging ties with the country’s most important ally, the United States.

The bruhaha has thrown doubt on plans for Tanaka to travel to Washington ahead of new Prime Junichiro Koizumi’s summit with President George W Bush in July.

In the latest reports, Tanaka reportedly made similar comments to German Foreign Minister Joschka Fisher last month during a meeting in China, adding a suggestion that Japan should consider changing its security arrangement with the United States.

She said: "Japan has been protected by the US nuclear umbrella," according to reports.

"That was the easy way. Now Japan has become the world’s second-largest economy and it has to shoulder a heavier responsibility."

But beyond the international sheen, the story is pure domestic infighting, Japan-style.

The intensely popular Tanaka took office in April as a key player in Koizumi’s reformist Cabinet and immediately irked the powerful bureaucrats at the Foreign Ministry by taking charge with a heavy hand.

She vowed to punish those responsible for a recent embezzlement scandal at the ministry and cancelled appointments made before her arrival. She scolded leading bureaucrats in public.

Now the mandarins, long used to running the show in Japanese Government, are taking their revenge. Ministry officials criticise her - under the cover of anonymity - in newspaper articles every day.

And Tanaka has been clear that the leaks about her US missile shield comments - which she in part denies - came from within her own ministry.

"Public servants must refrain from disclosing things that should be kept confidential," she told a Parliamentary committee. "It’s damaging to national interests to intentionally leak such confidential information, and it makes the people distrust the Government."

But the plot gets even thicker than that. Playing a key role in the latest scandal is a politician with an axe to grind: former Prime Minister Ryutaro Hashimoto.

Hashimoto had largely been expected to return to the premiership this spring, but his hopes were dashed when Koizumi led an insurrection in the ruling Liberal Democratic Party and swept to office.

The former prime minister surfaced in news reports this week when the government identified him as the source of Tanaka’s alleged criticism of the American missile shield to Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer.

Foreign governments are reacting.

Downer was forced to comment on the widening scandal this week, denying Japanese media reports that he chided Tanaka for her remarks and said he would "report" her to the US Government.

"I deeply regret that my very constructive and friendly meeting with Ms. Tanaka has been subjected to the distortion and misrepresentation evident in recent media reports," Downer said.

"Both Australia and Japan’s positions of understanding the United States rationale for a missile defence system are well known."

US State Department spokesman Richard Boucher faced questions about it: "Reports that somebody said something to somebody else are not half as important as the fact that we have ongoing and continuous consultations with our friends and allies, including the Japanese," Boucher said.

The international scope of the comments has worried some in Japan who fear damaging the US relationship, and Tanaka has drawn criticism that she is too much of a loose cannon for such a delicate position.

Tanaka so far has refused to back down, vowing to go ahead with plans for a US trip to "straighten things out." And Koizumi and other Government ministers have voiced guarded support.

"I don’t think there will be a diplomatic problem," said Gen Nakata, the defence agency chief. "This is purely a domestic issue."