Chinese Trawler Captain Returns Home From Detention in Japan
Sept. 25 (Bloomberg) -- A Chinese fishing boat captain whose 17-day detention in Japan sent relations between Asias two biggest economies to their worst level in five years returned home after prosecutors released him.
Zhan Qixiong arrived in Fuzhou in Chinas southeastern province of Fujian early today on a chartered flight, accompanied by officials from the foreign and agricultural ministries, Xinhua News Agency reported. China is demanding an apology and compensation, Xinhua said, citing a Foreign Ministry statement.
The release may defuse tensions that rose with the arrest after the boat collided with two Japanese Coast Guard vessels on Sept. 7 near uninhabited islets claimed by both countries. China cut off ministerial talks, and Premier Wen Jiabao this week urged Japan to immediately and unconditionally release him or face further retaliation.
We believe this will significantly reduce tensions, State Department spokesman Philip J. Crowley told reporters in New York yesterday. It was a proper decision for Japan to make.
At the same time, questions over the timing may open Prime Minister Naoto Kans government to criticism that it backed down under Chinese pressure. Japans request earlier this week for high level talks to resolve the dispute was rejected.
The decision invites questions as to whether the authorities were deliberately ambiguous, said Yasunori Sone, a political science professor at Tokyos Keio University. This will prompt criticism.
National Government Denial
Japans top government spokesman sought to dispel any suggestion the national government was involved in the decision to release the captain, who was being held in the southernmost prefecture of Okinawa.
It was the decision of the Okinawa prosecutors and we accept that, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshito Sengoku said in Tokyo. Its an undeniable fact that there were signs that Japan-China ties may have deteriorated.
Chinas foreign ministry reiterated that Japans proceedings were illegal and invalid, Xinhua said.
The Chinese boat was simply trying to escape the Coast Guard vessels; the collision wasnt intentional, Deputy Public Prosecutor Toru Suzuki said in a press conference from Naha, the prefectural capital. Taking into account the impact on our citizens and Japan-China relations, our judgment was that it would have been excessive to prolong the investigation and his detention.
Gas Reserves
The islands, known as Diaoyu in Chinese and Senkaku in Japanese, are in the East China Sea near natural gas fields. The two countries signed an agreement in 2008 that has yet to be implemented to jointly develop the fields.
Yesterdays announcement of the pending release came hours after Japans government said four of its citizens are being held in China for allegedly videotaping military targets. The four are employees of Fujita Corp., and were in Hebei, China, on company business unrelated to military issues, company spokesman Yoshiaki Onodera said.
We dont think this has a link to the Senkaku issue raised by China, Sengoku said at an earlier press conference.
He couldnt confirm reports that China has cut off exports of rare earths -- materials used in hybrid vehicles and laptop computers -- to Japan. A Chinese government official denied the report Sept. 23.
Japan is Chinas second-biggest trading partner after the U.S., with two-way commerce in the first seven months of the year rising 25 percent from the same period in 2009 to $65.2 billion, Chinese customs data show. China is Japans largest trading partner, buying 10.2 trillion yen ($121 billion) of the nations goods and services last year.
Second-Biggest Economy
China surpassed Japan as the worlds second-largest economy last quarter. The Japanese nominal gross domestic product for the second quarter totaled $1.288 trillion, less than Chinas $1.337 trillion, according to Japanese government statistics.
It will be negative for Japan, China and the global economy if ties between the countries with the No. 2 and No. 3 GDPs deteriorate, Japanese Finance Minister Yoshihiko Noda said. Its desirable for both nations to address this calmly.
Sengoku two days ago proposed high level talks between the two countries to ease the conflict. China rejected the suggestion, with Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu saying that playing tricks to deceive the world and international public opinion is not a way out.
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton urged Japan and China to resolve the issue through dialogue, as American officials declined to step into a broader territorial dispute.
Sovereignty Issue
The U.S. encourages both sides to work aggressively to resolve their differences as quickly as possible, Crowley said Sept. 23 in New York, where Clinton met with Japanese Foreign Minister Seiji Maehara on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assemblys annual meeting. We dont take a position on the sovereignty of the Senkakus, Crowley said.
U.S. President Barack Obama met separately with Kan and Wen Sept. 23. He didnt raise the dispute in his meeting with the Chinese premier, said Jeff Bader, Obamas director of Asian affairs.
The diplomatic row is the most serious since 2005, when thousands of Chinese protested Japanese textbooks that downplayed the nations wartime atrocities. The captains detention sparked a Sept. 18 protest outside Japans embassy in Beijing that was more tightly controlled by police than those five years ago, when demonstrators threw rocks at the consulate in Shanghai.
--With assistance from Eijiro Ueno in Tokyo and Flavia Krause- Jackson in New York. Editors: John Brinsley, Josh Fellman
Chinese Trawler Captain Returns Home From Detention in Japan - BusinessWeek