Japan's top envoy to Taiwan, Makoto Saito, resigned as director of the Interchange Association, Tokyo's de facto embassy in Taipei, association officials said Tuesday.
Saito quit for "personal reasons," the officials said on condition of anonymity. They did not elaborate.
Saito's resignation comes amid a tiff with Taiwanese President Ma Ying-jeou, who has been reluctant to meet with Saito or allow him to meet with senior administration officials for some eight months over a comment the envoy made earlier this year.
On May 1, Saito angered the Ma administration by referring to Taiwan's status in the international community as "unresolved" in remarks at a Taiwanese academic symposium.
The administration insists that the Republic of China, as Taiwan is officially called, is a sovereign entity.
Heavyweights in Ma's ruling Nationalist Party have been calling for Saito's recall since the remark, for which Saito and the Foreign Ministry in Tokyo have apologized.
Besides virtually freezing out Saito from high-level contacts, Taiwan has been tough with Japan under Ma's leadership.
Shortly after Ma took office last year, Taiwan's then prime minister even threatened war with Japan over a collision between a Taiwanese fishing boat and a Japan Coast Guard vessel in disputed waters claimed by the two sides but controlled by Japan.
