China prods Japan to release ship captain, return of crew not enough

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FUZHOU, China/TOKYO, Sept. 13 Kyodo -
China reiterated a demand Monday that Japan ''immediately release'' the captain
of a Chinese fishing boat that collided last week with two Japan Coast Guard
vessels near the disputed Senkaku Islands after Tokyo freed the remainder of
the Chinese crew.
In Tokyo, Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan voiced hope that both Japan and
China will continue enhancing efforts to deepen bilateral ties despite the row
triggered by the ship collisions.
''I think it is necessary for the strategic and mutually beneficial relations
(between the two countries) to develop steadily through efforts by both Japan
and China,'' Kan said.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu made the demand in a statement
after the 14 crew members of the trawler arrived in Fuzhou, the capital of
Fujian Province, by a chartered flight from Okinawa.
The trawler also left Okinawa under another Chinese skipper, according to the
Japan Coast Guard.
Meanwhile, activists claiming Chinese sovereignty over the Senkaku Islands set
out for the disputed area in a fishing boat from the northern Taiwan port Yeliu
in Taipei County on Monday. The vessel is scheduled in Senkaku waters Tuesday
morning.
In calling for an immediate release of the trawler skipper, Zhan Qixiong, 41,
Jiang said Zhan was ''illegally detained'' by Japan.
Zhan, 41, will continue to be detained and investigated by prosecutors in
accordance with Japanese law, Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshito Sengoku
said at a news conference earlier Monday in Tokyo.
Zhan has been arrested and sent to prosecutors on suspicion of deliberately
causing his vessel to collide with one of the Japanese patrol boats pursuing it
near the islands, administered by Japan and claimed by both China and Taiwan.
He is also suspected of unlawfully fishing in Japanese territorial waters.
The 14 crew members had been questioned as witnesses in the vessel before
leaving Ishigaki Island in Okinawa Prefecture for Fuzhou via Naha airport, also
in Okinawa, on the chartered flight.
Earlier Monday, Japanese State Secretary for Foreign Affairs Koichi Takemasa
said the crew members had left Japan because investigations relating to them
had been completed, indicating that Tokyo did not decide on their return due to
the Chinese protests.
Officials from the Chinese Foreign Ministry, Agriculture Ministry and
provincial officials from Fujian were on the flight to ''look after'' the crew,
Jiang said in the statement.
Since the incident Tuesday last week, China has on ''many occasions made solemn
representations'' to Japan, fully representing the ''will and determination''
of the Chinese government and people in defending territorial sovereignty, she
said.
The departure of the crew members came after Chinese State Councilor Dai
Bingguo demanded their immediate release along with the seized fishing boat in
the meeting with Japanese Ambassador to China Uichiro Niwa at the Chinese
Foreign Ministry in the early hours Sunday.
China had repeatedly protested over Japan's handling of the collision and
demanded the immediate release of all of the Chinese fishermen.
Chinese diplomatic authorities summoned Niwa four times since the collision
occurred. The latest meeting with Dai, the highest-ranking Chinese official to
have stepped into the case, took place from around Saturday midnight for 45
minutes.
Sengoku, Japan's top government spokesman, told the news conference Monday that
the Japanese government ''regrets'' that the ambassador was summoned at such a
time.
Last Friday, Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi summoned Niwa to protest over
Japan's handling of the case when a Japanese court granted prosecutors' request
for a 10-day detention period for the captain of the Chinese vessel.
As part of its protests, China has postponed bilateral talks later this month
toward signing a treaty on joint gas field development in the East China Sea.
''That's no good,'' Sengoku said in reference to the Chinese decision to delay
the talks, noting that the incident and the two countries' efforts to negotiate
on the gas development should not be treated on the same level.
Takemasa said Japan will continue to ''calmly'' deal with the case and ask
China to respond to Tokyo's desire to discuss the gas exploration.
==Kyodo
2010-09-14 16:32:27