The Japanese authorities on Friday night released a Chinese fishing boat captain after seizing his vessel and holding him for more than 30 hours, a move that appeared aimed at easing tensions between Japan and China.
The captain, Zheng Nianli, 47, had been sailing a Chinese trawler with 10 crew members on Thursday near Japan’s Goto Islands in the East China Sea. He was arrested and accused of ignoring a request from Japanese authorities for inspection after entering Japan’s exclusive economic zone. The crew remained aboard the boat.
Yusuke Onozawa, an official with Japan’s fisheries agency, confirmed in a telephone interview that Mr. Zheng had been released shortly before 8 p.m. on Friday. He was expected to be reunited with his boat and crew, Mr. Onozawa said.
The seizure of the boat, the Qiong Dong Yu 11998, raised fears of a broader diplomatic confrontation between the two countries. It came amid a concerted effort by China to punish Japan over a recent comment by its prime minister, Sanae Takaichi, in support of Taiwan.
Ms. Takaichi said in November that a hypothetical Chinese attack on Taiwan could incite a military response from Tokyo. China, which considers Taiwan, a self-governed democracy, part of its territory, responded with a series of reprisals. The Chinese government discouraged its citizens from traveling to Japan, restricted imports of Japanese seafood, threatened to block exports of rare earth minerals and canceled concerts by Japanese artists in mainland China.
The Chinese authorities did not immediately comment on Mr. Zheng’s release. At a news conference in Beijing on Friday, Lin Jian, a spokesman for China’s foreign ministry, called on Japan to “enforce the law impartially and protect the safety and legitimate rights and interests of the crew members” onboard the Qiong Dong Yu 11998.
The episode bore similarities to a diplomatic crisis in 2010, when Japan arrested the captain of a Chinese trawler after it collided with Japanese patrol vessels near uninhabited islands in the East China Sea.
Japan initially insisted that the captain would be prosecuted, but ultimately relented under pressure from China.
Javier C. Hernández is the Tokyo bureau chief for The Times, leading coverage of Japan and the region. He has reported from Asia for much of the past decade, previously serving as China correspondent in Beijing.
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