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Koizumi prepares to take on tough issues at APEC

"For Koizumi, mending ties with China as well as South Korea is top priority."

Kazuro Umezu, former professor of politics at Nagoya Gakuin University

Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi is set for a week of tough diplomacy as he tries to address decades-old conflicts with Asian neighbors and Russia, while moving ever closer to the US.

Koizumi heads to the 21-member Asia-Pacific summit fresh from his latest visit to a Tokyo war shrine, which neighboring nations see as a symbol of Japan's past militarism, and reshuffling his cabinet to elevate leading hawks.

In between, Koizumi will meet in Japan both with US President George W. Bush, whose administration just sealed a new military deal with Tokyo, and with Russian President Vladimir Putin for talks on a protracted island dispute.

The Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit being held in Busan, South Korea may be the last of the annual meetings for Koizumi, who has pledged to step down next year despite a landslide election victory in September.

But Koizumi's APEC swan song -- along with an East Asia summit next month in Malaysia -- could be among the populist leader's most difficult meetings since taking office in 2001.

"Koizumi is getting the chance to hold a series of meetings with key partners toward the end of this year but he could leave with empty pockets," said Hidekazu Kawai, professor of international politics at Gakushuin University.

Koizumi's government has taken an increasingly strident tone with China, believing Beijing will not budge on a host of disputes including the sharing of critical energy resources in the East China Sea.

China has already said it will be "very difficult" to meet Koizumi at APEC after his October 17 visit to Yasukuni shrine, which honors 2.5 million Japanese war dead including 14 top war criminals.

Chinese President Hu Jintao (胡錦濤), who has been travelling across the world showcasing China's rising influence, last saw Koizumi in April on the sidelines of a summit in Indonesia. The meeting was arranged after Koizumi issued Japan's latest apology for suffering it caused during World War II.

"I'm ready to meet with him anytime," Koizumi said ahead of APEC.

But Koizumi's new hardline foreign minister, Taro Aso, said on Friday that he doubted he would even meet his own Chinese counterpart, Li Zhaoxing (李肇星).

South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun has said he would meet Koizumi but only to show him courtesy as a guest, saying other leaders will be welcomed "wholeheartedly."

"For Koizumi, mending ties with China as well as South Korea is top priority during the APEC summit," said Kazuro Umezu, a former professor of politics at Nagoya Gakuin University. "But no one expects them to swiftly reconcile this time," Umezu said.

By contrast, Koizumi is expected to have warm talks with his close ally Bush during a pre-APEC summit on Wednesday in the ancient Japanese capital of Kyoto.

The two countries sorted out lingering differences ahead of the summit. Japan indicated it would resume imports of US beef blocked over mad-cow disease fears, an issue that threatened a trade war.

Japan and the US also sealed an agreement last month on the realignment of US troops that aims to ease the burden on Okinawa, the small southern island chain that hosts the majority of US forces in the country. But Koizumi is due to have a less amicable meeting with Putin, who has been invited to stop in Japan after the APEC summit.

The two countries have made no headway on Tokyo's demands for a return of the Kuril islands off Japan's northern coast, which Soviet troops seized in 1945.

Putin has flatly rejected handing back the four islands, saying in September, "on this issue we are not ready to discuss anything."

Also see story:
Busan braces for APEC protests

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