China yesterday summoned Japan’s ambassador for a third time to protest the detention of the captain of a Chinese fishing boat that collided with Japanese patrol vessels near disputed islands, demanding he and his ship be released unconditionally.
China has said the incident could damage bilateral relations, showing the sensitivity of the territorial dispute, one of several that form a troubling undercurrent in China’s relations with its Asian neighbors. As the robust Chinese economy’s demand for resources grows, Beijing’s commercial ships are venturing farther from shore and its more powerful navy is enforcing claims in disputed waters.
The crash occurred on Tuesday after the Chinese ship refused to stop for an inspection by the patrol vessels after repeatedly ignoring their earlier warnings to leave the area, Japan’s coast guard said.
Chinese Minister of Foreign Affairs Yang Jiechi (楊潔篪) told Japanese Ambassador Uichiro Niwa that 41-year-old captain Zhan Qixiong (詹其雄), his crew and boat had to be freed immediately, a ministry statement said.
Yang “emphasized that the Chinese government’s determination to safeguard the sovereignty of the Diaoyu islands and the nation’s people is firm and steadfast,” it said.
The incident happened off the northwestern coast of Japan’s Kuba island, just north of the disputed islands known as Senkaku in Japanese and Diaoyutai in Chinese. The islands, about 190km northeast of Taiwan, are controlled by Japan, but are also claimed by China and Taiwan.
The Chinese government said it was sending a law enforcement ship to the islands in the East China Sea — although it was not clear if the vessel would collect the stranded fishermen or patrol the waters.
At a regular news conference on Thursday, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu (姜瑜) said it was “absurd, illegal and invalid” for Japan to be applying its domestic laws to the case.
Japan’s coast guard has said Zhan could be released in a couple of days if he acknowledges the allegation of obstructing public duties resulting in the collision and pays a fine. If not, he would likely have to stand trial.
The remaining 14 crew members have remained on the fishing boat, the coast guard said. The crew cannot land in Japan because they do not have passports, but are free to return to China if the Chinese send a vessel to pick them up, it said.
Archeologists in Peru on Thursday said they found the 5,000-year-old remains of a noblewoman at the sacred city of Caral, revealing the important role played by women in the oldest center of civilization in the Americas. “What has been discovered corresponds to a woman who apparently had elevated status, an elite woman,” archeologist David Palomino said. The mummy was found in Aspero, a sacred site within the city of Caral that was a garbage dump for more than 30 years until becoming an archeological site in the 1990s. Palomino said the carefully preserved remains, dating to 3,000BC, contained skin, part of the
‘WATER WARFARE’: A Pakistani official called India’s suspension of a 65-year-old treaty on the sharing of waters from the Indus River ‘a cowardly, illegal move’ Pakistan yesterday canceled visas for Indian nationals, closed its airspace for all Indian-owned or operated airlines, and suspended all trade with India, including to and from any third country. The retaliatory measures follow India’s decision to suspend visas for Pakistani nationals in the aftermath of a deadly attack by shooters in Kashmir that killed 26 people, mostly tourists. The rare attack on civilians shocked and outraged India and prompted calls for action against their country’s archenemy, Pakistan. New Delhi did not publicly produce evidence connecting the attack to its neighbor, but said it had “cross-border” links to Pakistan. Pakistan denied any connection to
TRUMP EFFECT: The win capped one of the most dramatic turnarounds in Canadian political history after the Conservatives had led the Liberals by more than 20 points Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney yesterday pledged to win US President Donald Trump’s trade war after winning Canada’s election and leading his Liberal Party to another term in power. Following a campaign dominated by Trump’s tariffs and annexation threats, Carney promised to chart “a new path forward” in a world “fundamentally changed” by a US that is newly hostile to free trade. “We are over the shock of the American betrayal, but we should never forget the lessons,” said Carney, who led the central banks of Canada and the UK before entering politics earlier this year. “We will win this trade war and
Armed with 4,000 eggs and a truckload of sugar and cream, French pastry chefs on Wednesday completed a 121.8m-long strawberry cake that they have claimed is the world’s longest ever made. Youssef El Gatou brought together 20 chefs to make the 1.2 tonne masterpiece that took a week to complete and was set out on tables in an ice rink in the Paris suburb town of Argenteuil for residents to inspect. The effort overtook a 100.48m-long strawberry cake made in the Italian town of San Mauro Torinese in 2019. El Gatou’s cake also used 350kg of strawberries, 150kg of sugar and 415kg of
RSS