JAPANESE PROSECUTORS said yesterday they would release the skipper of a Chinese fishing boat at the centre of a major diplomatic dispute between the two Asian powers after intense pressure from Beijing.
Prosecutors in Okinawa said they would release 41-year-old Zhan Qixiong, who has been in custody for more than two weeks, even though his crew have been freed. They said they would let him go partly because there was no evidence of intent to damage the Japanese coast guard boats, but also for diplomatic reasons.
“We have decided that further investigation while keeping the captain in custody would not be appropriate, considering the impact on the people of our country, as well as the Japan-China relations in the future,” said Toru Suzuki of the Naha, Okinawa, prosecutors office.
Relations between China and Japan have plummeted since Japanese coast guard officers arrested the captain earlier this month. His trawler collided with two Japanese patrol boats near islands in the East China Sea claimed by both countries.
Beijing responded by suspending minister-level dialogue with Tokyo and postponed talks on developing disputed undersea gas fields. Chinese premier Wen Jiabao earlier this week sternly threatened “further action” against Japan if it did not release the captain immediately.
Anti-Japanese sentiment erupts every few years in China, as there is lingering resentment about Japan’s invasion and brutal occupation of China in the 1930s.
Economic ties between the two countries are close and very interlinked. In the past few weeks, China overtook Japan as the world’s second-largest economy, and there is a feeling China is keen to match its new-found economic muscle with political influence.
Mr Zhan was arrested on September 8th after the collision off the uninhabited chain of islands call Diaoyu or Diaoyutai in Chinese and Senkaku in Japanese. Located 193km (120 miles) east of Taiwan, the islands are controlled by Japan, but also claimed by Taiwan and China. The area is believed to be rich in natural resources, which is often cited as the real reason behind the row.
Earlier this week, Beijing said it was investigating four Japanese suspected of illegally filming military targets and entering a military zone without authorisation.
A Japanese building company Fujita Corp, said four of its employees were being questioned by Chinese authorities. The company said the men travelled to Hebei province a week ago to gather information about the area, and were working to prepare a bid for a project to dispose of chemical weapons abandoned in China by the Japanese military during the second World War.
Chinese foreign ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu said Mr Zhan would be flown home on a charter flight. Chinese media reported that Mr Zhan’s grandmother died of grief at the news of his arrest.
“I reiterate that what Japan did to the Chinese boat captain in its so-called judicial proceedings was illegal and invalid,” Ms Jiang said.