China’s top foreign affairs official has warned Japan to make what he called “a wise political resolution” to release a fishing trawler and its detained crew seized last week.
Chinese State Councilor Dai Bingguo summoned Japanese Ambassador Uichiro Niwa in the early hours of Sunday to deliver the message. It was the fourth time Niwa had ben called to explain the seizure.
A statement on China’s Foreign Ministry website said Dai “solemnly expressed the Chinese government’s grave concerns and its serious and just position.”
Japanese authorities detained the captain and the fishing boat’s 14 crew members after a collision with two coast guard vessels Tuesday near a group of islands in the East China Sea claimed by both countries.
The dispute escalated Saturday when China postponed talks with Japan after a Japanese court ordered the detention of the Chinese captain to be extended for 10 days.
The countries had been scheduled to hold talks in mid-September on issues relating to the East China Sea, where the collision occurred.
Japanese prosecutors will decide whether to charge the captain with a crime. Japanese officials say they warned the fishermen that their boat had unlawfully entered Japanese territorial waters.
The disputed islands are not inhabited, but they are rich fishing territory and are near an area thought to have undersea oil reserves. Located between Japan’s Okinawa Island and Taiwan, China calls them the Diaoyu Islands, while Japan uses the name Senkaku.
Taiwan also claims the islands.
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