By Miwa Hirono
Since Japan detained Chinese fishing trawler captain Zhan Qixiong in the sea around the disputed Diaoyu/Senkaku islands on 7 September, Sino-Japanese relations have reached their lowest ebb in five years. On 24 September, a prosecutor from Naha City in Okinawa Prefecture, where the captain was being detained, decided to release the captain ‘in consideration of Sino-Japanese relations’.
This decision came after a number of attempts by China to protest against Japan, including repeatedly summoning the Japanese Ambassador in China, Niwa Uichiro, to an audience with State Councillor Dai Bingguo; cancelling planned top-level government contacts, a planned trip by 1000 Japanese youth to the Shanghai Expo, China-Japan talks at a scheduled APEC meeting, and the sale of tickets to a concert given by Japanese pop group SMAP, to name a few. China also halted exports of rare-earth minerals to Japan. The released captain returned to China to a hero’s welcome, not unusual given the coverage this matter has received in the Chinese media. The Chinese government now demands a Japanese apology.
