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CHINA has suspended bi-lateral diplomatic ties with Japan in a worsening dispute over the continued detentention of one of their trawler skippers.
Chinese state media said ministerial and provincial-level contacts had been suspended, including talks on aviation and coal. The action was taken when a Japanese court extended the detention of the captain, held after the collision in the East China Sea.
The trawler was arrested in disputed water nearly two weeks ago after it collided with two Japanese patrol boats.. The vessel was eventually released and the 15 strong crew allowed home, but the skipper continued to be held by the Japanese.
The disputed islands are known as Senkaku in Japan and Diaoyu in China. They are rich in fish stocks which Japan claims, but they are also thought to contain important gas and oil reserves.On Friday, small protests against Japan took place in several Chinese cities, marking the anniversary of the 1931 Mukden incident, that led to Japan's occupation of north-east China.Demonstrators held banners demanding that Japan "get out" of the islands and release the Chinese captain from detention.China has already summoned Japan's ambassador five times and scrapped scheduled talks over joint energy exploration in the East China Sea, in what has become the worst diplomatic row in years between Beijing and Tokyo. The foreign ministry spokesman on Sunday reiterated Beijing's stance that the detention was "illegal and pointless".
China still has strong feelings about atrocities committed by Japanese forces when they occupied a large area s of northern China before and during the Second World War.
The fear is that the dispute could worsen if China decides to send more fishing boats into the disputed area, possibly backed by naval escorts.
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