Japanese minister resigns over Taiwan
1 October 2002
Kenichi Mizuno, one of the three parliamentary secretaries of the Japanese Foreign Ministry, resigned his post after the minister Yoriko Kawaguchi ordered him not to make a visit to Taiwan, the Financial Times said. Mizuno said he had planned to tell the Taiwanese that the island was "an important partner" for Japan, but his minister refused to let him go as the comments risked angering Beijing. Mizuno added that Japan's increasing reliance on the Chinese economy was colouring the judgement of the ministry's officials in a way that was "dangerous for foreign policy".
