Japan has suffered a diplomatic humiliation by succumbing to China's demand for the release of a Chinese fishing boat captain who was arrested for operating in Japanese territorial waters and for ramming his boat into Japanese Coast Guard patrol ships.
The incident occurred on Sept. 7 when the Coast Guard spotted the Chinese trawler near the Senkaku Islands in the East China Sea. Its 41-year-old captain rammed his ship against two patrol boats in an apparent attempt to escape. The ship was towed to a nearby Japanese port with the captain and 14 other crewmen on board. Beijing immediately lodged a stern protest, claiming sovereignty over the islands.
Although Japan returned the fishing boat and its crew to China shortly afterward, the captain remained in custody and Beijing resorted to a series of tactics in retaliation during the next few days, such as publicly accusing Japan of resorting to violence, summoning Ambassador Uichiro Niwa to Beijing to the Chinese Foreign Ministry a number of times and calling off a visit to Japan by about 10,000 Chinese tourists.