Japan not told of Chinese decision to cut ties
Japan not told of Chinese decision to cut ties | World news | The Guardian
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Japan claimed today that it had not been officially told of China's decision to break off high-level exchanges amid a deepening row over the detention of a Chinese fishing boat captain.
Zhan Qixiong was arrested on 8 September after his boat and a Japanese coastguard vessel collided in waters near a group of uninhabited islets administered by Japan but claimed by China.
On Sunday, a court in Japan extended his detention on the southern island of Okinawa to 29 September, prompting China to announce that it was halting ministerial and provincial-level contacts.
A spokesman in Japan, which is today observing a national holiday, claimed Tokyo had not been informed of the decision to cut off ties.
"If China did make such a decision, then it is truly regrettable," Noriyuki Shikata, a spokesman for the prime minister, Naoto Kan, told Associated Press.
"We call for calm and prudent action by China in order not to further escalate the situation," Shikata said, adding that the investigation into the collision was legally, not politically, motivated.
The row over the maritime collision is unfolding against a backdrop of rising tension over China's military spending, simmering historical resentments and competing claims to territories and possible energy sources.
Despite hopes that relations would improve under Japan's centre-left government, which took office a year ago, they have quickly sunk to their lowest level since 2005, when riots erupted in protest at visits to a controversial war shrine by the then Japanese prime minister, Junichiro Koizumi. The two countries halted ministerial-level defence talks for three years from 2003.
Although Japan has released the ship and its 14 other crew, the prospects of an early end to the row dimmed amid reports that China was preparing to start drilling in natural gas fields in another disputed area of the East China Sea, despite a 2008 agreement to conduct joint explorations.
Media reports said Kan was considering countermeasures, including the start of unilateral test drilling by Japan.
Earlier, Japanese officials said China had moved drilling equipment to the area, having scrapped scheduled talks over joint exploration in the wake of the trawler incident. Although known reserves appear to be relatively modest, it is thought that there may be more to be found.
China's state broadcaster CCTV said yesterday that Beijing had suspended contacts, including talks on increasing flights, and postponed a meeting on coal. The decision came after a day of protests across China to mark the start of Japan's invasion of China in 1931.
The row began more than a week ago, when a trawler collided with two Japanese coastguard ships near the Senkaku islands, known as the Diaoyu in China.
A Chinese foreign ministry statement read out on television said Japan's refusal to release the captain had "already caused serious damage to Sino-Japanese bilateral contacts".
Earlier, in a statement on the Chinese foreign ministry website, spokesman Ma Zhaoxu warned: "If Japan insists on making one mistake after another, the Chinese side will take strong countermeasures, and all the consequences should be borne by the Japanese side."
Xinhua news agency added that the Chinese vice foreign minister Wang Guangya had expressed "strong indignation" and made "solemn representations" to the Japanese ambassador, Uichiro Niwa, who has been summoned repeatedly since the row began.
However, after several years of improving relations and increasing trade, China and Japan have much to lose from a prolonged deterioration in ties, and will be wary of letting the spat get out of hand.
During weekend protests, a huge police presence protected the Japanese embassy in Beijing and buildings in Shanghai and Shenzhen. Japan's new foreign minister, Seiji Maehara, praised China's "considerable efforts to restrain them".
Maehara, who is thought to be more hawkish on China than his predecessor, repeated Tokyo's call for Beijing to handle matters calmly, stressing it was being dealt with according to Japanese law.
But he added that the isles were an "integral part of Japanese territory".
"Territorial issues do not exist in this region," Maehara told the national broadcaster NHK.
The Chinese media called for further sanctions against Japan, which they accused of taking a hard line against China.
"China should have a set of plans in place to further sanction Japan, fighting a diplomatic battle with Japan of successive retaliation," said the tabloid Global Times.
"China should use enough resources and force, and be prepared to sustain losses, because if we don't, Japan will go further down the path of a hard line towards China, and conflict that erupts between China and Japan will be even more intense."
Online forums called for boycotts of Japanese goods, and Chinese travel agencies have cancelled package tours to Japan involving thousands of tourists.
Japanese media urged the government to stand firm in the face of Chinese intimidation. "If China thinks that by taking a strong stance that Japan will just roll over, then it is mistaken," said an editorial in the Yomiuri Shimbun newspaper.
Under Japanese law prosecutors can hold the captain for up to 20 days while they decide whether or not to charge him. Japan has accused him of deliberately striking a patrol ship as it tried to intercept his vessel, and of obstructing officers. But China says the detention is illegal and has repeatedly demanded his release.
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