Japan seizes Chinese fishing vessel, arrests captain
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It was the first time since 2022 that the Japanese agency has seized a Chinese fishing boat.
PHOTO: REUTERS
TOKYO - Japan seized a Chinese fishing boat and arrested its skipper, the authorities said. The incident on Feb 12 off southern Japan could deepen a spat between the Asian giants.
It came three months after Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi suggested that Japan would intervene militarily
China swiftly reacted to the seizure, the Japanese fisheries agency’s first since 2022 of a Chinese fishing boat, by urging Japan to protect the rights of Chinese crew.
“It is hoped Japan strictly respects the China-Japan fisheries agreement, fairly enforces the law, and safeguards the safety, legitimate rights and interests of Chinese crew members,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Lin Jian said at a news conference on Feb 13.
Japan’s fisheries agency said the vessel’s captain was ordered to stop for an inspection, but the boat “failed to comply and fled”.
“The vessel’s captain was arrested on the same day,” the agency said in a statement.
The boat was inside Japan’s exclusive economic zone 89.4 nautical miles off Meshima island in the Goto archipelago, the statement added. It is not a disputed area.
The captain was named as Chinese national Zheng Nianli, 47.
The status of the other 10 people on board the vessel, named the Qiong Dong Yu, was unclear.
“To prevent illegal fishing operations by foreign vessels, we will continue to take firm action and engage in enforcement activities,” chief government spokesman Minoru Kihara said.
China has a number of territorial disputes with Japan and there have been repeated incidents around the Senkaku Islands, known as the Diaoyu in China.
The 2010 arrest of another Chinese fishing boat captain off those islands in the East China Sea became a major diplomatic incident.
Taiwan spat
Japan and China have close economic ties. However, Ms Takaichi’s comments about Taiwan have sent relations spiralling downwards again.
China has long insisted that Taiwan, occupied for decades by Japan until 1945, is its territory and has not ruled out force to achieve “reunification”.
Taiwanese President Lai Ching-te said in an interview this week that countries in the region would be China’s next targets
“The next countries under threat would be Japan, the Philippines and others in the Indo-Pacific region, with repercussions eventually reaching the Americas and Europe,” Mr Lai said.
After Ms Takaichi’s comments, Beijing summoned Tokyo’s ambassador, warned its citizens against visiting Japan and held joint air drills with Russia.
In December 2025, J-15 jets from China’s Liaoning aircraft carrier twice locked radar on Japanese aircraft in international waters near Okinawa, according to Japan.
China also tightened controls on exports to Japan for items with potential military uses, fuelling worries that Beijing may choke supplies of vital rare-earth minerals.
Japan’s last two pandas were returned to China
Hawkish leader
Ms Takaichi, 64, was seen as a China hawk before becoming Japan’s first woman prime minister in October 2025.
She won a landslide victory in snap elections on Feb 8, putting her in a strong position for the next four years to stamp her mark on Japanese domestic and foreign policy.
She said on Feb 9 that under her leadership, Japan – which hosts some 60,000 US military personnel – would bolster its defences and “steadfastly protect” its territory.
She also said she was “open to various dialogues with China”.
But China’s Foreign Ministry said “genuine dialogue should be built on respect for one another”.
“Proclaiming dialogue with one’s mouth while engaging in confrontation – no one will accept this kind of dialogue,” its spokesman, Mr Lin, said at a regular news briefing on Feb 10.
“If Japan truly wants to develop a strategic and mutually beneficial relationship with China, it’s very easy and clear: Withdraw Takaichi’s erroneous remarks about Taiwan,” he said. AFP
