TOKYO (Reuters) – Japan yesterday released a Chinese trawler captain at the centre of a fierce row with China that has threatened ties between Asia’s two biggest economies, officials said.
The captain, Zhan Qixiong, flew out of Ishigaki airport in southern Japan aboard a chartered plane shortly afterward for home, Kyodo news agency said
A prosecutor from Naha city on Japan’s southern Okinawa island said yesterday that the decision to release the Chinese captain, whose trawler collided this month with two Japanese patrol boats in waters near islands both sides claim, took into account the importance of Sino-Japanese ties.
Prime Minister Naoto Kan said the decision to release Zhan was made by authorities after “considering the nature of this incident from all angles” and based on Japanese law.
“China and Japan are important neighbours with important responsibilities in the international community,” he said in New York, where he attended the UN General Assembly.
“In order to further grow our mutually beneficial relationship based on strategic interests, I believe it is necessary for Japan and China to handle matters calmly,” Kan told reporters.
The release follows the detention of four Japanese nationals on suspicion of violating Chinese law regarding the protection of military facilities, though Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshito Sengoku has denied a link between the two matters.
The dispute over the Chinese trawler has its roots in a long-standing disagreement over sovereignty in an area with potentially rich resources, and has also underscored the fragility of ties long plagued by disputes over wartime history and regional rivalry.
Both countries claim sovereignty over the uninhabited islets in the East China Sea, called the Diaoyu in China and the Senkaku in Japan. They are also at odds over China’s exploration for natural gas in the East China Sea.
Beijing is involved in territorial rows with southeast Asian nations in the South China Sea.
Kyodo quoted a Japanese national resources and energy agency official late Friday as saying it was highly possible that China had started drilling in a gas field in the disputed waters of the East China Sea. But the report also cited a foreign ministry official as saying there was no confirmation.
