Ties with China considered in decision to free detained Chinese captain+

NAHA, Japan, Sept. 24 Kyodo - Prosecutors said Friday they have decided to free a Chinese fishing boat captain, who was detained following maritime collisions early this month near a chain of disputed islets in the East China Sea, out of consideration for
Japan-China relations, giving rise to speculation that the government may have influenced the decision.

Zhan Qixiong, whose release the Chinese government has been strongly calling
for, will leave on a chartered plane from an airport on Ishigaki Island in the
southwestern prefecture, where he has been held since his arrest, according to
the Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism Ministry. The plane is expected
to arrive at the airport at around 1:30 a.m. Saturday.
The Naha District Public Prosecutors Office in Okinawa Prefecture said it had
determined that it was ''not appropriate'' to continue the investigation while
holding the 41-year-old trawler skipper, when taking into account the impact of
the incident and the future of Tokyo's relationship with Beijing.
The prosecutors' announcement, which was taken to mean that their office was
effectively bringing an end to its investigation, came shortly after news
surfaced late Thursday that Chinese authorities have detained four Japanese for
alleged unauthorized entry into a military zone in China.
The announcement was particularly surprising as prosecutors rarely refer to
political considerations when reaching their decisions.
But Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshito Sengoku brushed aside the view that the
Japanese government had intervened out of diplomatic considerations, stressing
that the decision to free the skipper was made by the prosecutors alone.
''I understand that the prosecutors made the decision comprehensively,
considering the circumstances and the situation of the incident,'' the top
government spokesman said at a press conference in Tokyo, noting that the
prosecutors had not said bilateral ties were the sole consideration in making
the decision.
But in a sign that they had sought to gauge the potential diplomatic impact of
their decision, the Naha prosecutors consulted a Foreign Ministry division
chief in charge of the matter in reaching Friday's decision, investigative
sources said.
The territorial row over the Senkaku Islands, which are administered by Japan
but also claimed by China and Taiwan, has raised tension between Japan and
China, with Beijing demanding the captain's immediate release while suspending
ministerial and higher-level exchanges with Tokyo and canceling various
meetings and exchanges between the countries.
Opposition parties harshly criticized the Democratic Party of Japan-led
government as having caved in to China, arguing that the decision was not made
by the prosecutors but by the government of Prime Minister Naoto Kan.
''It's necessary to take a principled stand on this kind of problem,'' Liberal
Democratic Party President Sadakazu Tanigaki told reporters.
''It's completely beyond me that the district prosecutors' office took
Japanese-Chinese relations into account,'' he added, expressing doubt that the
prosecutors alone had made the decision to free the captain.
Sengoku said that while it is true that ties between the countries have shown
signs of deterioration since the incident, the two major Asian economic powers
now need to work on improving bilateral relations.
''We need to make efforts toward deepening our strategic, mutually beneficial
relations (which the two countries have sought over recent years),'' he said.
On the possibility that the detention of the Japanese nationals in China was in
any way connected to Friday's decision by the Japanese prosecutors, Sengoku
said it would be unfounded to link the two matters.
The Chinese captain was arrested on Sept. 8 by a local office of the Japan
Coast Guard on suspicion of obstructing Coast Guard members in performing their
duties near the Senkaku Islands, around 400 kilometers west of the main Okinawa
island, the previous day. Zhan has denied the allegation, according to the
prosecutors' office.
A Naha district public prosecutor said at a press conference that it is
''obvious'' that Zhan deliberately collided with a Japan Coast Guard patrol
boat that was pursuing the fishing boat and it was a ''dangerous'' act that
could have thrown the crew members aboard the Coast Guard vessel into the sea.
But the prosecutor also said the captain's action ''was spur-of-the-moment as
he simply wanted to elude the pursuit and we cannot recognize that it was
premeditated,'' adding it did not result in any injuries.
The office will continue to investigate the case and eventually decide whether
to indict the captain by watching developments in Japan-China relations and the
situation surrounding the islands, the prosecutor said.
Zhan is also suspected of illegally fishing in Japanese territorial waters.
On Sept. 19, the Ishigaki Summary Court in Okinawa authorized prosecutors to
extend their detention of Zhan until Sept. 29.
All the remaining 14 crew members of the trawler returned to China on Sept. 13
after Japan Coast Guard members questioned them on a voluntary basis aboard
their vessel while it was berthed at Ishigaki port.
==Kyodo