As Prime Minister Naoto Kan's government prepares to host an Asian Pacific Economic Cooperation summit this month, analysts say the centre-left Democratic Party of Japan's inexperience is starting to show through.

Tokyo has been locked in a seething row with Beijing over contested islands in the East China Sea for the past two months and this week a long-running territorial dispute with Moscow reared its head again.

Kan is also still trying to mend ties with Washington strained over the fate of a controversial air base, a dispute that helped topple his predecessor as prime minister and party leader, Yukio Hatoyama.

"The developments all show that Japan's ruling party lacks diplomatic policy on top of its overall lack of experience," said Tetsuro Kato, political professor at Waseda University.

The diplomatic woes are proving yet another headache for an administration dealing with deflation, a shrinking population, a mountain of public debt and the impact of a surging yen on a fragile economic recovery.

The feud with Beijing stems from the arrest of a Chinese trawler captain whose vessel collided with Japanese patrol boats in waters near a disputed island chain in the East China Sea in September.

But in what was seen as a diplomatic climbdown, prosecutors released the captain after Beijing cut political, economic and cultural exchanges and detained four Japanese citizens for video recording in a military area.

Analysts also question why Tokyo let the dispute rumble on before unveiling video footage this week allegedly proving the Chinese ship rammed Japanese vessels, eight weeks into a row that threatened tourism and exports.

With Kan's approval ratings plummeting, the visit by Russian President Dimtry Medvedev to the disputed Kuril Islands Monday triggered speculation that Moscow was looking to make the most of Tokyo's perceived weakness.

"It appears Russia has taken advantage of the DPJ government's diplomatic ineptitude," the Nikkei business daily said in an editorial Tuesday.

The government "also responded spinelessly in the row with China," it said.

When the DPJ swept to power last year, ending more than half a century of almost uninterrupted conservative rule, Hatoyama called for closer ties with East Asia, especially China, and set to allay some doubts about Japan's post-war contrition.

Hatoyama called the East China Sea a "Sea of Fraternity" and promoted the idea of an EU-style Asian Community.

But instead the DPJ has cultivated acrimony.

The hapless Hatoyama was forced to resign after flip-flopping on a plan to move a US airbase off the southern island of Okinawa, managing to offend both residents and the United States.

The pressure is now on his successor Kan to show that he can handle diplomacy related to Japan's national interests, analysts say.

"The test for Kan's government is to manage Japan's public opinion," said Akio Watanabe, professor emeritus of Tokyo University and diplomacy expert.

"Kan needs an adroit policy management to address diplomatic issues, despite the DPJ's relative inexperience in foreign affairs."

Eyebrows were raised when Kan selected the hawkish but young and relatively inexperienced Seiji Maehara to replace Katsuya Okada as the nation's top diplomat in a September reshuffle. Maehara's directness has ruffled Beijing.

"The government chose the wrong person for its foreign minister," said Kato.

China's state media this week accused Maehara of ruining a planned formal meeting between their premiers, branding him an "extremist" and accusing him of making false statements.

Then came the first ever trip by a Russian leader to one of the four islands at the heart of the dispute that has prevented the signing of a peace treaty between Moscow and Tokyo to formally end World War II hostilities.

The Kuril Islands, which lie north of Japan's Hokkaido island, have been controlled by Moscow since they were seized by Soviet troops at the end of World War II, but Tokyo claims the southernmost four as Japanese territory.

Maehara summoned the Russian ambassador in protest and recalled Tokyo's from Moscow, but Medvedev's move was seen as a direct snub to the foreign minister who had warned the president against such a visit in September.

Moscow has since said Medvedev plans further visits.

"Russia is testing the Kan administration's capability to handle security issues," said Hiroshi Kimura, professor of Russian politics at Takushoku University.

Others say Medvedev is merely trying to demonstrate his own political muscle in his pursuit of a second term ahead of 2012 elections. "Medvedev needs to portray the image of a strong leader," said Watanabe.

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