Japan PM to visit China Dec 27-30 as support drops

By George Nishiyama

TOKYO (Reuters) - Japanese Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda will make his first visit to China next week in a bid to strengthen ties, but with a breakthrough in a natural resources dispute unlikely, he could land in the hot seat back home.

The Dec. 27-30 trip, announced on Friday, comes at a time when Fukuda's support rate has dived to just over 30 percent, a level analysts say is crucial to stay in power, on outrage over mishandled pension records and a bribery scandal.

"The visit is to set the tone for future Sino-Japanese relations," said Hiroshi Nakanishi, a professor of international politics at Kyoto University.

Ties between Tokyo and Beijing have warmed in the past year after a long chill under former Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi, who repeatedly visited a shrine seen by many in Asia as a symbol of Japan's past militarism.

Beijing has welcomed Fukuda's taking over the reins as he has been an advocate of closer ties with Asian neighbours, but his critics at home have said he is too yielding towards a rising China.

Fukuda held a rare lunch meeting with Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao last month on the sidelines of an Asian leaders' meeting in Singapore, and a Chinese naval destroyer made the first such visit ever to Japan in late November.

Japanese officials said Fukuda did not raise the issue of China's increasing military spending, which Tokyo has long said lacks transparency, in his November meeting with Wen.

"I hope that it will be meaningful for our mutually beneficial relationship," Chief Cabinet Secretary Nobutaka Machimura told reporters when announcing the trip.