Japan's trial of boat captain will harm relations: China

The Chinese government also said it was sending a law enforcement ship to the islands in the East China Sea — though it was unclear if the vessel would simply collect fishermen stranded after the collision or patrol those waters.

Territorial disputes have been a disruptive undercurrent in China's relations with its Asian neighbors in recent years. 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 likelihood of a trial increased Thursday as the Japanese coast guard handed over captain Zhan Qixiong to prosecutors for further investigation to decide whether to officially charge him in the case, Japan Coast Guard spokesman Masahiro Ichijo said. No one was injured, and the two Japanese vessels sustained minor damage.

Beijing has reacted to the arrest with swift criticism, twice summoning the Japanese ambassador in Beijing and demanding the Chinese vessel be released immediately.

“The Japanese side applying domestic law to the Chinese fishing boat operating in this area is absurd, illegal and invalid,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu said at a regular news conference Thursday.

She said the territorial disputes are highly sensitive and improper handling would seriously affect “larger interests of China-Japan relations.”

The collisions happened off the northwestern coast of Japan's Kuba island, just north of the disputed islands known as Senkaku in Japanese and Diaoyu in Chinese. The islands, about 190 kilometers east of Taiwan, are controlled by Japan but are also claimed by China and Taiwan.

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