Kenichi Mizuno, parliamentary secretary for foreign affairs, tendered his resignation Sunday to Foreign Minister Yoriko Kawaguchi following a row over his planned visit to Taiwan.
Kawaguchi received Mizuno's resignation at Narita airport, near Tokyo, before she left for a two-week visit to Ethiopia, Angola and South Africa.
The government is expected to endorse Mizuno's resignation Monday, government officials said. It has no plan to appoint a successor.
Mizuno, 36, is a House of Representative member from the Liberal Democratic Party. He told reporters that he resigned to protest the ministry's refusal to allow him to visit Taiwan.
"Japan's relations with China are important. But we don't have to be reserved about visiting Taiwan," Mizuno said. Mizuno had planned to visit Taiwan in the middle of this month. Kawaguchi refused to permit it because she wanted to avoid increasing tensions with Beijing.
Before assuming the ministry post in January, Mizuno visited Taiwan last December and had talks with President Chen Shui-bian.
Beijing sees Taiwan as a breakaway province not entitled to diplomatic recognition. Japan severed its diplomatic ties with Taiwan when it established its relationship with China in 1972.
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