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China suspends senior bilateral exchanges with Japan
Announcing the suspension, China's state broadcaster CCTV said relations with Tokyo had been "severely hurt". It said Beijing had suspended ministerial and provincial-level contacts, halted talks on aviation issues and postponed a meeting to discuss coal. The announcement came after a Japanese court authorized prosecutors to extend by 10 days the detention of a Chinese captain accused of ramming his trawler against Japanese patrol boats in the East China Sea. Japanese authorities arrested Zhan Qixiong, the Chinese captain, on September 8, but they have since released his crew and boat. Mr Zhan's initial detention on suspicion of obstructing official duties had been set to end on Sunday. The incident took place near the disputed Diaoyu islands - called Senkaku in Japan and also claimed by Taiwan - which lie in an area with rich fishing grounds that is also believed to contain oil and gas deposits. China has already summoned Japan's ambassador five times and scrapped scheduled talks over joint energy exploration in the East China Sea, in what has become the worst diplomatic row in years between Beijing and Tokyo. The foreign ministry spokesman on Sunday reiterated Beijing's stance that the detention was "illegal and pointless". The incident has sparked resentment among the Chinese public. Stage managed outrage. The Chinese are trying to muscle everyone, including the US Navy, then act outraged when other countries resist. Posted by: Anonymoose 2010-09-20 |
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