The European Union inquired Wednesday about recent developments between Japan and China as bilateral tensions continue to rise over the Sept. 7 ship collisions in the East China Sea, Japanese officials said.
Catherine Ashton, EU high representative for foreign affairs and security policy, asked Foreign Minister Seiji Maehara about developments since the collisions, which allegedly took place near a set of disputed islands near Okinawa that are administered by Japan but claimed by China and Taiwan. The two met on the sidelines of U.N. meetings in New York.
Maehara, who last week inspected the two Japan Coast Guard patrol boats involved in the collisions with a Chinese trawler, explained Japan's position to Ashton, the officials said.
The Japan Coast Guard arrested the captain of the Chinese fishing boat Sept. 8 on a charge of obstructing the official duties of coast guard personnel. The Japanese authorities allege the skipper deliberately rammed one of the coast guard boats.