Japan-row trawler returns to China

A Chinese fishing boat that set off a diplomatic spat by colliding with two Japanese patrol boats has returned to China while its captain remains in Japanese custody despite Beijing's repeated demands for his release.

The foreign ministry said on its website it had called in Japan’s ambassador to China on Tuesday and lodged another formal protest against the arrest of the captain after his ship and the Japanese patrol boats collided last week near islands claimed by both countries.

It marked the sixth time the ambassador has been called in over the incident.

The dispute has touched off a war of words between the world’s second and third-largest economies and prompted anti-Japanese activists in Taiwan – which also claims the islands – to sail to the area in a protest mission.

The official Xinhua News Agency said the Chinese trawler returned to a port in Quanzhou city in China’s Fujian province early yesterday.

The 14 crew were released on Monday but a Japanese court has granted prosecutors permission to keep the captain, Zhan Qixiong, in custody until Sunday to decide whether to formally indict him on charges of obstructing public duties.

Beijing sees the case as a provocation against its claim of sovereignty over the islands.