Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi demanded on Friday that Japan unconditionally free a Chinese fishing boat captain seized in disputed waters, raising the pitch of Beijing's latest territorial quarrel with Tokyo. Yang summoned Japan's ambassador to China, Uichiro Niwa, and made a "solemn representation and protest" over the sea dispute that has fuelled discord between Asia's two biggest economies.
The row threatens to become a distracting irritant between them, unsteadying their efforts to reduce distrust. Japan this week arrested the captain of the fishing boat that collided with two Japanese coast guard boats near disputed islets in the East China Sea, drawing strong formal protests and media denunciation from China. Yang's warning raised the level of those protests. The boat incident took place near a group of East China Sea islets - called Senkaku in Japan and Diaoyu in China - over which Tokyo and Beijing, as well as Taiwan, claim sovereignty.
Comments
Comments are closed.