One year after the Senkaku incident, Japanese and Chinese people have a bad impression of each other, despite deepening economic and trade relations between the two countries. In fact, China is Japan's No. 1 trade partner. In this situation, the Japanese government must act coolheadedly toward China but must have the will to prevent any move on the part of China to weaken Japan's legal and effective rule of the Senkaku Islands.
Early Sept. 7, 2010, a Chinese fishing vessel hit two Japan Coast Guard patrol ships inside Japanese territorial waters near the Senkaku Islands in the East China Sea. Coast Guard officials boarded the Chinese vessel and the JCG arrested its captain early the next day. A week after the incident, the Naha District Public Prosecutors Office decided to release him in view of the negative effect that continuing the investigation would have on the Japanese people and Japan-China relations.
China had strongly reacted to the arrest. It might have hoped that Japan would tactfully treat the incident to avoid a diplomatic row. Clearly, however, the Chinese vessel violated Japanese territorial waters. It must be pointed out that the Senkaku Islands have been integral part of Japanese territories since Japan declared the islands to be part of Okinawa Prefecture in January 1895 after confirming that they were not ruled by what was then China's Qing Dynasty.