Rice arrives to a tense north Asia

At the time, Japan also signed a military agreement with the US that will increasingly make Japan the center of the American presence in Asia.

Beijing has watched closely Tokyo's gradual moves away from a policy of strict pacificism. In December, for the first time ever, Japan formally named China as an object of concern over the mainland's military buildup.

Rice was in north Asia last summer, visiting all three nations as national security adviser. Now she returns as the top diplomat, and her sequence of visits follows what has been protocol in the Bush administration: first a visit to old ally Japan, then Korea, then China. She will wrap up her tour on Monday.

At one level, Rice, as main representative of the world's No. 1 power, is expected to experience the usual scramble by various parties to develop close personal ties.

In an apparent gesture of goodwill ahead of Rice's visit, China Thursday freed one of its highest-profile political prisoners. Rebiya Kadeer, an ethnic Uighur, was released after spending five years in prison for "illegally providing state intelligence abroad" after she sent newspaper clippings to her husband in the US.

Yet underneath the good manners and smiles, the interior dialogue about the US in the various Asian capitals is often uncertain or puzzled. The perception here is that Iraq and the Middle East take priority over Pacific issues for the Americans. The US involvement in Iraq, now entering its third year amid continuing violence and the departure of allies like Italy, has led to an undercurrent of concern here about the US ability to stay engaged in Asia and has dented America's overall image of strength.

"The Americans don't seem to recognize the drift that is continuing in Asia," says a senior US official who requested anonymity. "From Washington, it appears things are fine. In Asia, the perspective is different. I wonder if anyone on this trip will bluntly tell Condi that the Korea policy isn't working."

The Bush administration is relying heavily on Beijing to bring North Korea back to the negotiating table. Both China and South Korea, the two countries bordering North Korea, publicly advocate a "nuclear free peninsula." However, differences remain with the US over how to achieve that objective.

Rice's first trip as Secretary of State was to Europe last month. Unlike European nations - which after World War II developed a system of interlinking organizations, treaties, and common understandings - Asia developed no such system, experts point out. There is no Asian NATO or Asian economic community to provide checks and balances and mediate differences as in Europe. There have been no state visits between China and Japan, for example, since Jiang Zemin visited Tokyo in 1998.

• Wire material was used in this report.

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