China-Japan row shows no signs of easing
Tuesday, 28 September 2010
TOKYO, Sept 27 (AP): A China-Japan row showed no sign of easing Monday as Tokyo said Beijing should pay for damage to its coastguard boats from the collisions that sparked their dispute almost three weeks ago.
With relations between the Asian giants at their worst level in years, Japan also urged its neighbour to do its part to repair ties that have been battered by the tense maritime incident in disputed waters in the East China Sea.
"Right now, the ball is in China's court," said Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshito Sengoku, the right-hand man to Prime Minister Naoto Kan, stressing the need for healthy ties between the world's second and third biggest economies.
The ugly spat started when Japan's coastguard on September 8 arrested a Chinese skipper, who has since been released, on suspicion he had intentionally rammed two of its patrol vessels in a chase near a disputed island chain.
Japan released the captain, Zhan Qixiong, last week, hoping to defuse the diplomatic crisis -- but China has since twice demanded that Japan apologise and compensate China over the incident, a demand Kan flatly rejected Sunday.
The communist government of China -- where the incident has sparked a strong nationalistic response -- has called the arrest invalid and illegal, arguing that the string of islands have been part of China since ancient times.
The islets, known as Senkaku in Japan and Diaoyu in China, lie in an area between Japan's far-southern Okinawa island and Taiwan that has rich fishing grounds and is believed to contain oil and natural gas reserves.
On Monday, Japan's Sengoku, asked whether the work to the patrol boats would be paid for by Tokyo, told reporters that "Japan will have to demand" the cost of repairs through diplomatic channels from China.
With relations between the Asian giants at their worst level in years, Japan also urged its neighbour to do its part to repair ties that have been battered by the tense maritime incident in disputed waters in the East China Sea.
"Right now, the ball is in China's court," said Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshito Sengoku, the right-hand man to Prime Minister Naoto Kan, stressing the need for healthy ties between the world's second and third biggest economies.
The ugly spat started when Japan's coastguard on September 8 arrested a Chinese skipper, who has since been released, on suspicion he had intentionally rammed two of its patrol vessels in a chase near a disputed island chain.
Japan released the captain, Zhan Qixiong, last week, hoping to defuse the diplomatic crisis -- but China has since twice demanded that Japan apologise and compensate China over the incident, a demand Kan flatly rejected Sunday.
The communist government of China -- where the incident has sparked a strong nationalistic response -- has called the arrest invalid and illegal, arguing that the string of islands have been part of China since ancient times.
The islets, known as Senkaku in Japan and Diaoyu in China, lie in an area between Japan's far-southern Okinawa island and Taiwan that has rich fishing grounds and is believed to contain oil and natural gas reserves.
On Monday, Japan's Sengoku, asked whether the work to the patrol boats would be paid for by Tokyo, told reporters that "Japan will have to demand" the cost of repairs through diplomatic channels from China.