The World: The Rising Sun

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The Japanese once ranked near the top of Peking's list of despised "imperialists." But things have changed dramatically since pragmatic Kakuei Tanaka succeeded reserved and cautious Eisaku Sato as Japan's prime minister last month. Right after Tanaka's election, a Chinese ballet troupe arrived in Tokyo, accompanied by a ranking expert on Sino-Japanese relations. Now, Chinese premier Chou En-lai has told the chairman of Japan's opposition Socialist Party, who was visiting in Peking, that he would like Tanaka to come for talks "as soon as possible."

Tanaka has not yet decided when he will go. He is unlikely to do so until he can get his divided Liberal Democratic Party to agree on a response to Chou's tough demand that Japan must, as a precondition for talks on improving relations with China, abandon its peace treaty with the Nationalist regime on Taiwan. President Nixon, who will meet Tanaka in Hawaii on Aug. 31, is also vitally interested in Japan's response. The implication of Chou's invitation to Tanaka is that Tokyo, which was not given advance notice of the Nixon Administration's moves on China and Taiwan, may well establish formal diplomatic relations with Peking before the U.S. does.