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JAPAN has freed the Chinese trawler skipper held for the past two weeks after it was alleged he allegedly steered his vessel into two fishery protection boats. But tensions between the two countries remain high.
Japan had accused Zhan Qixiong of illegal fishing and deliberately ramming the two patrol vessels near disputed islands in the East China Sea.China said his detention was "illegal and invalid", and cut off ministerial-level contacts with Japan.
Now China is demanding an apology and compensation in a fishing incident which threatened to escalate and send Asia’s two biggest countries to their lowest ebb for a long time. Japan hit back by demanding that China pays for the damage to the patrol boats
China's Foreign Ministry said in a website statement: “Japan’s detention, investigation and any forms of judiciary measures for the Chinese trawler and fishermen are unlawful and invalid. Japan must apologize and compensate for this incident.”
Japan had planned to charge and try the skipper in court, but it is thought they backed off because of the rising tension between the two countries. Japan may well have been under outside pressure not to let a simple fisheries dispute grow into the something more serious.. But observers fear another fishing clash could happen again.
The incident took place near the uninhabited Senkaku/Diaoyu islands which are claimed by both countries.They matter because they are close to strategically important shipping lanes, offer rich fishing grounds and are thought to contain oil deposits.Japan says it surveyed the islands for 10 years and determined that they were uninhabited. That being the case, on 14 January 1895 it erected a sovereignty marker that formally incorporated the islands into Japanese territory.
There have also been other incidents between Japanese patrol boats Taiwanese fishing vessels. In 2005, 50 Taiwanese fishing boats staged a protest in the area, complaining of harassment by Japanese patrols.
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