China suspends contacts as Japan boat row deepens
BayBak, Azerbaijan | 976 days ago | Monday, 20th September , 2010 , 00:08 [am] | International
 |
. | China suspended high-level exchanges with Japan on Sunday and promised tough countermeasures after a Japanese court extended the detention of a Chinese trawler captain who collided with two Japanese coastguard ships.
The spat between Asia’s two largest economies has flared since Japan arrested the captain, accusing him of deliberately striking a patrol ship and obstructing public officers |
China suspended high-level exchanges with Japan on Sunday and promised tough countermeasures after a Japanese court extended the detention of a Chinese trawler captain who collided with two Japanese coastguard ships.
The spat between Asia’s two largest economies has flared since Japan arrested the captain, accusing him of deliberately striking a patrol ship and obstructing public officers near uninhabited islets in the East China Sea claimed by both sides.
“China demands that Japan immediately release the captain without any preconditions,†Foreign Ministry spokesman Ma Zhaoxu said in a statement on the ministry’s website, repeating that China viewed the detention as illegal and invalid.
“If Japan acts wilfully despite advice to the contrary and insists on making one mistake after another, the Chinese side will take strong countermeasures, and all the consequences should be born by the Japanese side,†Ma said.
Japan’s decision has “seriously damaged Sino-Japan bilateral exchangesâ€, state television added, reading out a separate response from the Chinese Foreign Ministry.
Japan’s decision has “seriously damaged Sino-Japan bilateral exchangesâ€, state television added, reading out a separate response from the Chinese Foreign Ministry.
China has suspended ministerial and provincial-level bilateral exchanges with Japan, halted talks on increasing flights between the two countries and postponed a meeting about coal with Japan, the report said.
Japan’s Kyodo news agency reported that the trawler captain’s detention had been extended until Sept. 29. The Japanese court could not be reached for comment.
Sino-Japanese ties have long been plagued by feuds over wartime history and rivalry over territory, resources and military intentions, although they had improved after a chill in 2001-2006, as deep economic ties raise the risk from rows.
Detention extended: Japan on Sunday extended its detention of the Chinese captain.
The captain, Zhan Qixiong, 41, was arrested on September 8, the day after the collision with two Japanese coastguard vessels in the East China Sea.
Zhan’s crew and ship were taken to Ishigaki island in the Okinawan chain, but the 14 other crew members were sent home Monday after questioning.
Zhan’s initial detention on suspicion of obstructing official duties had been set to end Sunday.
“The Ishigaki summary court decided Sunday to extend his detention until September 29,†a spokesman for the local public prosecutors’ office said.
Rallies were staged in Beijing and other Chinese cities on Saturday to voice anger over the arrest and mark the highly sensitive anniversary of Japan’s invasion of Manchuria in 1931.
The incident took place near the uninhabited islands—called Senkaku in Japan and Diaoyu in China, and also claimed by Taiwan—which lie in an area with rich fishing grounds that is also believed to contain oil and gas deposits.
It has sparked the worst tensions between the Asian neighbours in years, with Beijing summoning Tokyo’s ambassador five times in a week and scrapping scheduled talks over joint energy exploration in the East China Sea.
Earlier Sunday, Japanese Foreign Minister Seiji Maehara tried to ease the impact of the incident, saying that China had helped restrain the demonstrations which he called “sporadic protest activitiesâ€.
“I think the Chinese government has made considerable efforts to restrain them,†he said in a televised talk show. “In this sense, it is imperative for both sides to deal with the matter in a level-headed manner.â€
He also described the collision as “gu-hatsutekiâ€â€”a Japanese word which could be translated as incidental or unforeseen.
The expression was apparently softer than Tokyo’s earlier position that the captain intentionally rammed the Japanese coastguard vessels during a high-seas chase on September 7.aylitimes
, Voice of a Nation[1] Print
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