The 47-year-old skipper of a Chinese trawler is released after two days following the payment of a fine of 300,000 yen for entering Japanese territorial waters. For Beijing, the incident was a “regular fishery case”.

Tokyo (AsiaNews/Agencies) – A maritime incident between China and Japan was settled in two days, preventing a new diplomatic crisis between the two nations. Japan released a Chinese fishing boat captain on Wednesday after he paid a fine of 300,000 yen (US$ 3,900) for entering Japanese waters.

The incident occurred near Japan's Goto Islands, off the coast of Nagasaki. According to Japanese authorities, a Japanese coastguard patrol boat spotted two Chinese fishing boats in Japanese waters and gave chase for four and half hours when the vessels refused to stop for an on-board inspection.

The pursuit ended when a coastguard rammed one of the Chinese trawlers and arrested Zhang Tianxiong, the 47-year-old captain, from Fujian. After he paid the fine, he was released immediately.

Beijing said that the arrest of a Chinese fishing boat captain was a “regular fishery case” in an indication the incident would not affect ties between the two nations.

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• japan
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