Foreign Minister Makiko Tanaka said Sunday that she has abandoned plans to attend ministerial talks of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum scheduled for Wednesday and Thursday in Shanghai.
Her prospective participation in Diet deliberations over an antiterrorism bill is primarily behind the move.
"It seems like a substitute will attend the meeting. The measure will be taken partly because I have to answer questions (on the bill) at the Diet," Tanaka told reporters in Singapore, where she attended an informal ministerial meeting of the World Trade Organization.
Tanaka had lobbied hard to attend the APEC talks, but many officials of the government and the Liberal Democratic Party were against her participation. They said she should not leave the country at a time when debate over the bill is expected to reach a critical stage.
The bill is aimed at enabling Tokyo to dispatch Self-Defense Forces teams to provide U.S.-led military action in Afghanistan with noncombat support.
Tanaka had suggested she could make a one-day trip to Shanghai to meet with foreign ministers attending the APEC ministerial talks -- including Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov and U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell -- even if she were ultimately unable to attend the conference itself.
Shigeo Uetake, senior vice foreign minister, is expected to attend the Shanghai meeting in Tanaka's place, according to Foreign Ministry sources.