Video footage of China ship collision to be submitted to Diet+

TOKYO, Oct. 18 Kyodo -
The government and the Democratic Party of Japan decided Monday to allow
submission of video footage of last month's collisions between a Chinese
trawler and Japanese patrol boats near a chain of disputed islets to a Diet
panel, a DPJ lawmaker said.
The move comes after the House of Representatives Budget Committee last
Wednesday decided to demand that prosecutors submit the video footage, which is
said to prove that the Chinese trawler was responsible for the Sept. 7
collisions near the Senkaku Islands. The islets are administered by Japan but
claimed by China.
''It will be submitted if the Diet makes a formal request,'' Yukio Edano,
acting secretary general of the ruling party, told reporters after holding a
meeting with Prime Minister Naoto Kan, DPJ Secretary General Katsuya Okada and
Azuma Koshiishi, leader of the DPJ's upper house caucus, at the premier's
office.
The submission could give another twist to diplomatic ties between Japan and
China that have been strained since the collisions off the islets in the East
China Sea, known as Diaoyu in China.
Edano said the government and the DPJ have yet to decide on how and when the
footage will be submitted to the panel.
Kan told reporters in the evening that the decision was ''mainly made by people
in the party.''
To avoid further damaging Japan-China relations, the DPJ is considering
allowing only certain lawmakers, including those who are part of the executive
board of the budget committees, to see it.
Ruling and opposition parties will discuss how they will release the footage.
The diplomatic spat escalated after Japanese authorities detained the Chinese
captain following the collisions. He was released and returned to China on
Sept. 25, pending prosecution, but tensions between the two Asian powers
persist.
Despite some signs in recent weeks that the two's relations have begun to thaw,
big anti-Japan protests erupted over the weekend in several Chinese cities,
with many asserting that the islets are part of China.
Kan's government, meanwhile, has come under criticism at home for freeing the
captain in the face of strong pressure from China.
==Kyodo
2010-10-18 23:46:45