Asia, Japan | featured news

The tension between China and Japan is at its all time high during the present times. On 16 October 2010 a large number of protesters came out on the roads in central city of China, Chengdu, shouting slogans against Japan.

Chinese Prime Minister Wen Jiabao has told his Japanese counterpart Naoto Kan that a disputed stretch of islands in the East China Sea belonged to China, state media said.

Prime Minister Naoto Kan rejected China’s demand that Tokyo apologize for the arrest of a Chinese trawler captain.

China demands an apology from Japan following the return of a fishing boat captain who was detained for two weeks.

Prosecutors in Japan said Friday they would release the captain of a Chinese fishing vessel whose detention after a collision set off a dispute between the two nations.

Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao threatened more steps against Japan unless it releases a trawler captain Tokyo accuses of deliberating colliding with a Japanese coastguard ship near disputed islands.

Japan urged China to remain calm and not inflame their diplomatic spat further Monday after Beijing severed high-level contacts over the detention of a Chinese fishing boat captain near disputed islands.

Marchers outside the Japanese Embassy in Beijing rally against the detention of a Chinese fishing crew.

Japan freed 14 crew members of a Chinese ship Monday nearly a week after their vessel collided with two Japanese patrol boats near disputed southern islets, but kept the captain in custody in a case that has angered China.

A long-simmering dispute over a string of islands in the East China Sea heats up after the collision of a Chinese trawler with Japanese patrol ships. Experts say long-term relations between the nations could suffer.