Japan's unpopular prime minister reshuffled his cabinet yesterday, picking a woman with Beijing-friendly credentials and a hawk who recently engaged in a war of words with Beijing.
Yoshihiko Noda also named a relative unknown as finance minister but kept many key posts unchanged in a bid to balance continuity and change ahead of an expected general election.
New education minister Makiko Tanaka is the daughter of former prime minister Kakuei Tanaka, who normalised diplomatic ties with Beijing 40 years ago. Her family is known for its close ties with China, and she was in Beijing just last week as part of a parliamentary delegation.
Noda named party heavyweight Seiji Maehara minister of national strategy and economy - a powerful brief that covers everything from fiscal policy to space matters. Maehara drew fire from China last week for publicly calling it "a country that fabricated and distorted history".
He was foreign minister when China and Japan were at loggerheads over the arrest of a Chinese trawler captain near the waters of the Diaoyu islands, or Senkakus to the Japanese, in 2010.
Takehiko Yamamoto, a professor of international politics at Waseda University, said Tanaka's appointment was intended as diplomatic balm.
"This is clearly a signal … to China, no matter what the prime minister says. China considers her a very important person … Tanaka is expected to improve ties from the sidelines," he said.