Incident happened as China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi was hosting Japanese envoy in Beijing
A Chinese fishing boat captain has been arrested in waters close to Japan, according to state media in the island nation.
Chen Wenting, 40, was detained by the Japanese coastguard on Saturday morning on suspicion of violating Japan’s fishing rights and trying to avoid inspection, NHK reported.
The incident happened on the same day China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi told visiting Japanese senior deputy minister for foreign affairs Takeo Mori that 2019 was going to be an “important year” for ties between the two countries.
Chen and his crew of 10 were spotted inside Japan’s exclusive economic zone, about 300km (186 miles) southeast of Hahajima, a tiny island in the western Pacific about 1,000km south of Tokyo, the report said.
But when a coastguard vessel from Yokohama sounded a siren and issued instructions to stop, Chen turned and fled. The Japanese boat went in pursuit and after a 30km chase, the Chinese vessel was forced to stop.
Chen was detained pending further investigation, the report said.
China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi (right) told visiting Japanese senior deputy minister for foreign affairs Takeo Mori that 2019 was going to be an important year. Photo: Xinhua
China’s foreign ministry did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
There have been many cases of Chinese fishermen being arrested by Japanese authorities, with perhaps the most notable coming in 2010 when a Chinese trawler rammed a Japanese coastguard vessel near the disputed Diaoyu Islands – known as Senkaku in Japan – in the East China Sea.
When the Chinese crew were arrested it prompted huge outpourings of nationalist sentiment in both countries and tensions between them rose significantly.