TOKYO (AP) — Yoshihiko Noda was
elected Tuesday as Japan's sixth prime minister in five years, facing
such a staggering array of domestic problems that the last thing he
needs is a sour relationship with China, his country's biggest trading
partner.

Yet Noda is being viewed warily in China,
whose media are playing up his comments supporting a controversial
Tokyo shrine honoring World War II dead, including Class A war criminals
such as Hideki Tojo, and that Beijing's military buildup is creating
regional unease.

"'Hawk' to become Japan's new prime minister," said the nationalistic Global Times.

Regarded at home as a smart but
bland fiscal conservative from humble roots, Noda replaces the unpopular
Naoto Kan, who quit amid widespread criticism over his administration's
handling of the tsunami and nuclear disasters. A former finance
minister, Noda will likely focus on those immense challenges, as well as
reviving the stagnant economy and reducing Japan's massive national
debt.

But in China, the media is
portraying Noda as a right-wing nationalist and has predicted a rocky
period for China-Japan relations. Even more liberal newspapers
highlighted his comments, first made in 2005 and reiterated earlier this
month, that convicted Japanese wartime leaders enshrined at Tokyo's
Yasukuni Shrine should no longer be seen as criminals.

Yasukuni visits by postwar
politicians have often enraged Japan's neighbors, who bore the brunt of
Japan's colonial aggression and see the shrine as a glorification of
militarism and a symbol of Tokyo's failure to fully atone for its past
imperialism. When former Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi used to visit
the shrine it triggered rage and a five-year chill in relations with
China and South Korea.

Japan, long used to being the
region's dominant power, has been unsettled by China's fast-accelerating
power over the past decade, even as the countries — now the world's
second- and third-largest economies — built thriving commercial
relations. In this rivalry, Beijing has often appeared to test Tokyo's
mettle, at times taking advantage of political transitions in Japan.

On Monday, after Noda was
elected head of the ruling Democratic party, setting up Tuesday's
parliamentary vote, China's official news agency warned him not to
ignore Beijing's "core interests." In a harshly worded editorial, Xinhua
demanded Noda not visit Yasukuni and said Tokyo must recognize China's
claim over Japanese-controlled islands in the East China Sea known as
Senkaku, or Diaoyutai in Chinese.

Ties between the countries
deteriorated sharply last year when a Chinese fishing boat captain was
arrested — and later released — by Japan after his boat collided with a
Japanese patrol boat in disputed waters near the islands.

The territorial dispute could
flare again. Last week, two Chinese fisheries patrol boats sailed into
contested waters near the islands, drawing a rebuke from Tokyo.

Noda made a veiled reference to
China in comments Saturday during a joint news conference by the five
candidates for the prime minister's job: "Among our neighboring
countries, there is a nation that is mixing up economic growth and
nationalism."

He added that Japan "has
instilled a weak image when it comes to territorial issues. We do not
need to make advances, but we should be prepared in case something
happens."

Noda, 54, and the rest of Kan's
Cabinet chose not to visit Yasukuni this year, and analysts in Japan
believe Noda is unlikely to do so as prime minister, or make any
strident statements about war criminals or Japan's wartime past.

"There's no way he is going to
take some action on this," said Naoto Nonaka, a political science
professor at Gakushuin University in Tokyo. "There's too much else to
do."

Koichi Nakano, political science professor at Sophia University in Tokyo, said Noda is likely to play down his past comments.

"A lot of people learned a
lesson from the Koizumi 'ice age,'" Nakano said. "He has no interest in
complicating his situation by creating an acrimonious atmosphere when he
needs to cooperate with Asian nations to get out of Japan's economic
quagmire."

China has overtaken the U.S. as
Japan's biggest trading partner, doing $176 billion worth of trade for
the first half of the year. As China's middle class grows, the country's
burgeoning market holds vast potential for Japanese exporters. Japan
also is striving to draw more Chinese tourists.

Liang Yunxiang, a Japan expert
at Peking University, said historical and territorial issues have been
perennial sore spots, and so personalities and attitudes of leaders
matter in whether these problems affect the broader relationship.

"Yoshihiko Noda has not been friendly to China, so it's not a good start," he said.

As is standard practice, Chinese
Premier Wen Jiabao sent a formal telegram congratulating Noda and
urging that both sides work together to promote cooperation.

The mass circulation Asahi
newspaper in Japan noted Tuesday that his past comments "that the
A-class war criminals are not legally guilty of war crimes is causing
some waves as he is taking the helm."

As prime minister, "Noda has to
be more careful in how he addresses Japan shared history with Asia,"
said Jeff Kingston, director of Asian studies at Temple University's
Tokyo campus.

"I don't think that this is a
huge blunder that's going to undermine ties but I think that he needs to
be very careful from now on," he said. "Clearly Japan's economic future
is closely tied to China's rise and it's not helpful for the positive
economic relationship to be held hostage to history."

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