Prime Minister Naoto Kan named a new foreign minister as part of a Cabinet reshuffle Friday, putting a new stamp on the administration after surviving a party leadership challenge earlier in the week. Seiji Maehara, a security expert who was previously transport minister, will quickly be put to the test with an escalating diplomatic spat with China over a boat collision near disputed islands. He will also become the point man for the nettlesome issue of relocating a U.S. Marine base on Okinawa, the Associated Press reported. The reshuffle comes after Kan, a fiscal disciplinarian who took office just three months ago, won a divisive Democratic Party leadership election Tuesday and promised to use his victory to push ahead with efforts to cap spending, create jobs and build party unity. «Now that the election is over, we will band together to work so that we can break the sense of stagnation that has affected Japan in the past 20 years,» Kan said. Kan retained the ministers for the key Cabinet posts of finance and defense, but changed 10 of the 17 positions, including trade minister. The new appointments mark «a fresh start» for the prime minister as he deals with a range of issues including a sluggish economy and fiscal problems, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshito Sengoku said as he announced the lineup. The Cabinet picks reflect the prime minister's «commitment to push for reforms that would make a breakthrough amid Japan's difficult situation,» he said.
