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JAPAN has arrested another Chinese trawler for alleged illegal fishing, but this time the two countries are playing down the incident.
In July the two countries clashed over fishing rights in disputed fishing waters off the uninhabited Diaoyo Islands. A month later Japan arrested two Chinese trawlers in disputed fishing grounds off the northern coast of Ishikawa prefecture state in the Japan Sea.
The Japan Sea arrests seemed to highlight the growing hostility over fishing in South East and northern Asia where oil rather than fish stocks is thought to be the real prize if countries can stake a territorial claim. But in this latest incident Beijing was more conciliatory, describing the detention as a regular fishing case.
A Beijing Government spokesman said: "China hopes that the Japanese side will take concrete measures to ensure the legitimate rights and interests of the fisherman and properly handle the issue as soon as possible."
The reason there seems to be less tension between the two former wartime foes this time is because the vessel, which is now being detained in the port of Nagasaki, was arrested in a fishing area that is not the subject of a territorial dispute.
However, political observers believe that there will be further fishing incidents between the two countries from time to time. They also say the time to worry is when fishing boats set sail under naval escort, increasing the prospect of an armed clash. There have also been fishing clashes in the South China Sea between China and Vietnam where again oil rights are believed to be the real reason for the confrontation.
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