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Japan searches for new foreign minister

Japan's Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi is searching for a new foreign minister after abruptly sacking the first woman to serve as the country's top diplomat, Makiko Tanaka.

In the interim, officials say the prime minister himself will takeover the portfolio.

Mrs Tanaka...a popular and controversial minister... was fired over a feud with her top deputy that's stalled the passage of key legislation designed to revive the country's ailing economy.

Mrs Tanaka's nine-month term in office was marked by a series of clashes with the foreign ministry establisment as well as a number of diplomatic blunders, including contradicting government policy on relations between China and Taiwan.

30/01/2002 11:37:34 AM | ABC Radio Australia News

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