Japan said it would release a Chinese trawler captain at the heart of a fierce territorial row with China that has threatened ties between Asia's two biggest economies.
A prosecutor from Naha city on Japan's southern Okinawa island today said the decision to release the captain, whose trawler collided with two Japanese patrol boats in waters near islands both sides claim earlier this month, reflected consideration for the increasingly Sino-Japanese ties.
"It is a fact that there was the possibility that Japan-China relations might worsen or that there were signs of that happening," Japan’s chief cabinet secretary Yoshito Sengoku told a news conference.
"Our ties are important and both sides must work to enhance our strategic and mutually beneficial relations."
The expected release follows the detention of four Japanese nationals who were being investigated on suspicion of violating Chinese law regarding the protection of military facilities, although Mr Sengoku denied a link between the two matters.
Japanese prosecutors have not said when the captain will be released, but China said it was sending a chartered plane today to take him home.
Emotions have run high over the issue in China, where memories of Japan's invasion and occupation of parts of the country from 1931 to 1945 still fuel public anger. Protesters in several Chinese cities have demanded Japan free the captain.
The disputed islets are known as the Diaoyu in China and the Senkaku in Japan.
The roots of the trawler dispute lie in a long-standing disagreement over sovereignty in an area with potentially rich natural gas resources, but the spat has underscored the fragility of the relationship.
China said it was sending a plane to pick up the captain and issued a statement bristling at even the possibility of Japan claiming the right to charge him.
Japanese finance minister Yoshihiko Noda had warned earlier that worsening ties would be bad for both economies.
"A cooling of relations between Japan and China over the Senkaku problem would be bad for Japan's economy, but it would also be a minus for China," he told a news conference. "It's desirable that both sides respond in a calm manner."
Japan's sluggish economy has become increasingly reliant on China's dynamism for growth. China has been Japan's biggest trading partner since 2009 and bilateral trade reached 12.6 trillion yen ($147 billion) in the January-June period, a jump of 34.5 per cent over the same time last year.
Reuters