Japan, seeking to minimize damage to ties with Beijing, will send seven Chinese activists arrested after landing on a small disputed island back to China after questioning them, a Foreign Ministry spokesman said yesterday.
The seven, all men, evaded Japanese Coast Guard vessels to land on the rocky island in the East China Sea on Wednesday, prompting Japan to protest to China through its ambassador in Tokyo and to send 18 police by helicopter to remove them.
In Beijing, about two dozen protesters burned Japanese flags outside Tokyo's embassy in a protest against the arrests.
PHOTO: AP
"The Chinese people cannot be insulted," they chanted.
China, Taiwan and Japan all claim sovereignty over the uninhabited island cluster, which provides access to rich fishing grounds and possible oil deposits in the area.
Beijing calls the islands the Diaoyus and Japan refers to them as the Senkakus.
Japanese Foreign Ministry spokesman Hatsuhisa Takashima said the seven would be questioned by police on the southern island of Okinawa before being sent back to China.
"We do not want to play up this incident as an obstacle to the promotion of better relations between China and Japan," Takashima said of the latest row over the islands, which lie between Okinawa and Taiwan.
China has demanded that Japan ensure the safety of the group and has reiterated its claim to the islands.
The seven Chinese were brought to Naha, the capital of Okinawa, early yesterday for questioning by police.
Chief Cabinet Secretary Yasuo Fukuda expressed hope that the incident would not affect relations between Tokyo and Beijing.
"I hope that this issue will not adversely affect the entire Sino-Japanese relations," Fukuda told reporters.
"But it is crystal clear that the Senkaku islands are our country's indigenous territory."
Ties between the two Asian neighbors have already been strained by Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's annual visits to Tokyo's Yasukuni Shrine for war dead, where convicted war criminals are among those honored.
Fukuda said Japan would handle the issue "solemnly" based on domestic and international laws.
"We are investigating whether there is any political intention [behind their landing on the island]," he said.
The Japanese government is trying to dissuade a right-wing Japanese group from making a trip to the island, Takashima said.
"We are aware of it [the planned trip] but we are telling them not to do it," he said.
Japan has formally claimed sovereignty over the islands since 1895 and says Beijing did not stake its claim until the 1970s, when talk emerged of oil resources in the area.
China and Taiwan say their claims go back to ancient times.
Japanese Foreign Minister Yoriko Kawaguchi, who is due to visit China on April 3 to discuss a range of issues, may raise the islands spat during her talks in Beijing.
"The Senkakus is one of the main bilateral issues between the two countries so she might raise the issue to seek China's cooperation to prevent this kind of thing," Takashima said.
Hungarian authorities temporarily detained seven Ukrainian citizens and seized two armored cars carrying tens of millions of euros in cash across Hungary on suspicion of money laundering, officials said on Friday. The Ukrainians were released on Friday, following their detention on Thursday, but Hungarian officials held onto the cash, prompting Ukraine to accuse Hungary’s Russia-friendly government of illegally seizing the money. “We will not tolerate this state banditism,” Ukrainian Minister of Foreign Affairs Andrii Sybiha said. The seven detained Ukrainians were employees of the Ukrainian state-owned Oschadbank, who were traveling in the two armored cars that were carrying the money between Austria and
Kosovar President Vjosa Osmani on Friday after dissolving the Kosovar parliament said a snap election should be held as soon as possible to avoid another prolonged political crisis in the Balkan country at a time of global turmoil. Osmani said it is important for Kosovo to wrap up the upcoming election process and form functional institutions for political stability as the war rages in the Middle East. “Precisely because the geopolitical situation is that complex, it is important to finish this electoral process which is coming up,” she said. “It is very hard now to imagine what will happen next.” Kosovo, which declared
MORE BANS: Australia last year required sites to remove accounts held by under-16s, with a few countries pushing for similar action at an EU level and India considering its own ban Indonesia on Friday said it would ban social media access for children under 16, citing threats from online pornography, cyberbullying, online fraud and Internet addiction. “Accounts belonging to children under 16 on high-risk platforms will start to be deactivated, beginning with YouTube, TikTok, Facebook, Instagram, Threads, X, Bigo Live and Roblox,” Indonesian Minister of Communications and Digital Meutya Hafid said. “The government is stepping in so that parents no longer have to fight alone against the giants of the algorithm. Implementation will begin on March 28, 2026,” she said. The social media ban would be introduced in stages “until all platforms fulfill their
Counting was under way in Nepal yesterday, after a high-stakes parliamentary election to reshape the country’s leadership following protests last year that toppled the government. Key figures vying for power include former Nepalese prime minister K. P. Sharma Oli, rapper-turned-mayor Balendra Shah, who is bidding for the youth vote, and newly elected Nepali Congress party leader Gagan Thapa. In Kathmandu’s tea shops and city squares, people were glued to their phones, checking results as early trends flashed up — suggesting Shah’s centrist Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP) was ahead. Nepalese Election Commission spokesman Prakash Nyupane said the counting was ongoing “in a peaceful manner”
RSS