Abe's China policy may change: expert

Appoints moderate FM as scandal sinks approval ratings

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's Cabinet reshuffle signals a "slight adjustment" of policy on China, an expert said on Thursday.

Abe, recently hit by scandals and weakening support, appointed new ministers such as Foreign Minister Taro Kono and Defense Minister Itsunori Onodera in Cabinet reshuffle on Thursday.

With the Cabinet reshuffle, Abe appears to be seeking a balance between the right and left wings. And appointing a new foreign minister, who is believed to hold a moderate view on China, would lead to a slight adjustment in Japan's policy toward China, Hu Lingyuan, a professor at the Center for Japanese Studies at Fudan University in Shanghai, told the Global Times.

"Since Abe is struggling with scandals and failing public support, he needs to find a way to stabilize his government, and the choice of Kono, who is considered a dove, (compared to Abe, who is on the hawkish side) surprises me, and shows Abe's willingness to balance the Cabinet," Hu said.

Kono, 54, is the son of former chief cabinet secretary Yohei Kono, who wrote a landmark 1993 apology to "comfort women" forced to work in Japanese wartime military brothels.

Kono headed the National Public Safety Commission for 10 months, and was responsible for G7 summit security in Ise-Shima while working as administrative reform minister.

Latest opinion polls show support for Abe has plunged to its lowest since he took power in December 2012 with a promise to revive Japan's economy and bolster its defenses, endangering his goal of revising the pacifist constitution.

Abe had until recently also been seen as likely to win a third term as head of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), putting him on track to be Japan's longest-serving prime minister.

But support has fallen below 30 percent, with the opposition fanning suspicions of Abe's favoritism to a friend and voters believing that he and his aides have grown arrogant in office. He was also hurt by the LDP's defeat by a novice political party in a July assembly election, Reuters reported on Thursday.

New LDP policy chief Fumio Kishida, the former foreign minister, emphasized the Cabinet's intention to return to fundamentals after taking up his new post.

"We need to fulfill economic policies under Abenomics so that the public can better feel the benefits of Japan's economic revival," Kishida told a news conference, referring to Abe's signature plan to reboot Japan's economy.