日媒对日本释放中国船长的报道

日本释放中国船长海外媒体热议
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朝日新闻：
Prosecutors to release Chinese trawler captain
THE ASAHI SHIMBUN
2010/09/25
Toru Suzuki of the Naha District Public Prosecutors Office explains the decision Friday. (THE ASAHI SHIMBUN)
Okinawa prosecutors said Friday they will release the captain of a Chinese fishing trawler whose arrest sparked a diplomatic row that escalated into China's halt of rare earth exports crucial for Japan's high-tech industries.
Although the prosecutors and the central government denied any political pressure was applied, the move is expected to tone down the spat between Japan and China. But it might not be enough for relations between Japan and China to quickly return to normal.
"Considering the effects on the people of Japan and the future of Japan-China relations, we decided that it would not be appropriate to continue the investigation by maintaining the detention of the suspect any further," Toru Suzuki, deputy public prosecutor at the Naha District Public Prosecutors Office, said at a news conference.
Zhan Qixiong, 41, was arrested on Sept. 8 after his trawler collided with two Japan Coast Guard vessels in waters near the disputed Senkaku Islands.
In Beijing, Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu repeated China's stance that Japan's legal procedures taken against Zhan were illegal and invalid. She said China "would dispatch a chartered jet to Japan and welcome back the captain who was illegally detained by Japan."
Prosecutors can still indict the captain, but a source at the Supreme Public Prosecutors Office said that would not likely happen. Zhan could be released as soon as Saturday.
Officials at the Supreme Public Prosecutors Office said the decision to release Zhan was made solely by prosecutors and no pressure had been applied by the prime minister's office.
In Tokyo, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshito Sengoku and Justice Minister Minoru Yanagida also said there was no political interference in the decision by Naha prosecutors.
"We received a report from (the district public prosecutors office) that the suspect would be released without a decision on whether to indict as a result of having completed their investigation," Sengoku said at a regular news conference. "We accepted their decision."
However, prosecutors rarely hold news conferences to explain their actions, let alone talk about diplomatic relations.
In referring to Japan-China relations, Suzuki said: "It is only one of the factors that we considered in this case. It does not mean that we gave special consideration to the Chinese government."
Suzuki noted that no crew members of the coast guard vessels were injured, and that Zhan's actions caused only light damage to the vessels and did not immediately cause navigational problems.
He also explained that the collision was not premeditated and that Zhan had no previous criminal record in Japan.
When asked why the decision to release Zhan was made before the detention deadline of Wednesday, Suzuki said the investigation was close to being completed.
At the same time, Suzuki said Zhan deliberately rammed the coast guard vessels with his boat and that the actions had constituted a danger.
China opposed Japan's processing of the captain under domestic laws because that would have supported Japan's claims to the islands, which the Chinese call Diaoyutai.
One reason for the strong stance taken by Beijing was the feeling that Japan was strengthening its claims of the Senkaku Islands as Japanese territory.
"The DPJ government has not studied the history of bilateral relations," a Chinese government source said.
Takeo Hiranuma, head of the Sunrise Party of Japan, said the developments Friday will end up strengthening China's position on the islands.
"Releasing the captain could be interpreted as Japan implicitly recognizing China's territorial claim," Hiranuma said.
Sadakazu Tanigaki, head of the opposition Liberal Democratic Party, implied that the ruling Democratic Party of Japan's presidential election created a political vacuum that allowed the issue to spin out of control.
"It is unconceivable that prosecutors would refer to (the effects on diplomacy). The government must fulfill its responsibility to explain what happened," he said.
The diplomatic row led to a suspension of Cabinet-level talks, canceled student cultural exchanges and sparked anti-Japan protests in China.
A Chinese government source had said: "The situation has become much more serious than with the Yasukuni Shrine issue. Both nations will only further hurt each other."
On Tuesday, Premier Wen Jiabao became the first Chinese leader to directly comment on the trawler incident when he said in New York: "China has made repeated requests, but Japan has been unresponsive. China has no choice but to take the necessary 'coercive measures.'"
Japan had stuck to its stance of handling the matter in an orderly fashion based on domestic law. And on Sept. 19, an Okinawa court approved the extension of the captain's detention.
A Chinese government source said Thursday that Beijing resorted to the harsh measure of stopping all exports of rare earth metals to Japan because "Japan had crossed over the red line."
The prosecutors' decision came after reports that four Japanese detained in China had been accused of illegally videotaping a military facility, as well as the sense of shock, fear and helplessness among Japanese industries caused by China's export ban.
The stoppage was designed to hurt Japan's high-tech industries, and it was apparently planned well in advance.
According to several sources, top leaders of the Chinese Communist Party issued instructions in mid-September to the Foreign Ministry, Commerce Ministry, State Development and Reform Commission as well as researchers covering Japan at government-affiliated think tanks to devise specific measures that could be imposed on Japan.
"Instructions were given to consider sanctions that would hit the Japanese economy where it is especially vulnerable," a Chinese government source said.
In addition to the rare earth export ban, the proposed measures included a restraint on trips by tourists to Japan, a postponement of technological exchanges in energy and environmental industries, and excluding Japanese companies from submitting bids on Chinese public works projects.
Chinese media said other measures could include a military exercise off the Senkaku Islands, applying pressure on exports of Japanese companies by buying up yen and causing the currency to appreciate and a boycott of Japanese products.
"The Chinese economy's influence on Japan and other neighboring nations has increased, making it easier for China to use economic measures," said Akio Makabe, an economics professor at Shinshu University in Nagano Prefecture.
While China has taken steps when diplomatic problems have arisen, the economic sanction was seen as an especially harsh measure.
In 1992, when France decided to sell fighter jets to Taiwan, China took "coercive measures" and closed down the French Consulate General in Guangzhou. It also banned French companies from taking part in the construction of a subway line in Guangzhou.
According to Japanese government sources, rare earth exports from China were halted on Sept. 20, the day after Zhan's detainment extension was approved.
Rare earth metals, considered a key factor for Japan's industrial sector, are used in hybrid and electric vehicles as well as in home appliances with higher energy conservation standards. Japan depends on China for most of its rare earth metals.
Even before the trawler incident occurred, prices of rare earth metals were rising because China had placed a limit on exports.
Shin-Etsu Chemical Co. will raise its price on magnets using rare earth metals by an average 20 percent from October.
From November, Showa Denko KK will jack up prices fourfold for cerium abrasives used to polish substrates in liquid crystal display panels.
A prolonged ban would have also affected automobile and appliance manufacturers.
An executive of a major trading company said Toyota Motor Corp. uses about half of the rare earth imports to Japan for hybrid vehicle motors.
Mitsubishi Motors Corp. plans to double production of the i-MiEV electric vehicle next year, while Nissan Motor Co. will begin selling its Leaf electric vehicle in December.
One big fear concerning China's export ban was the supply of cerium, a metal used in LC flat screen TVs, sales of which have been leading Japan's economic recovery.
Tsutomu Toichi, senior managing director and chief executive researcher at the Institute of Energy Economics, Japan, said the fallout from the trawler incident underscores the dangers in depending on a single nation for rare resources.
"The government should use this as an opportunity to consider creating a stockpiling structure," Toichi said.
Some companies are trying to move away from the dependence on China for rare earth metals.
Panasonic Corp. and Sharp Corp. are turning to other materials and developing new technologies.
The trading companies Sojitz Corp. and Sumitomo Corp. have heightened efforts to mine rare earth metals in Vietnam and Kazakhstan.
"Rare earth metals can be found around the world. If more development projects are pushed, we would not have to depend on China," said Shigeo Nakamura, president of Advanced Material Japan Corp., which deals exclusively with rare earth metals.
与上文相关的报道：
中国封锁日蒙拟联合开发稀土

日本富士重工 2011年推出混合动力车
稀土等稀有金属是混合动力车等日本高科技产品不可或缺的原料。
据日本共同社9月25日消息，日本首相菅直人当地时间24日中午在纽约与蒙古国总理巴特包勒德举行会谈，双方就在稀有金属、煤炭、铀等矿产资源共同开发领域加强合作一事达成了共识。
稀有金属包括中国对日出口通关手续遇阻的稀土在内。巴特包勒德要求日本加大对稀有金属开发的合作力度，菅直人则希望蒙古创造国外企业容易参与的商业环境。
由于日前中日两国紧张的关系，日本此前有媒体分析称，日本企业担忧中国禁止向日本出口稀土，对日本高科技产业的发展带来不利影响。日本政府不得不向其他一些稀有金属大国「救急」。
此外，菅直人还对来自蒙古的相扑横纲选手白鹏取得60连胜佳绩表示了祝贺。

日本时代网站：
Friction cited in move to free Chinese skipper
Pros
ecutors ac
quiesce to defuse dispute but state denies meddling
By ALEX MARTIN and KANAKO TAKAHARA
Staff writers
Japan was set to release a Chinese fishing boat captain as early as late Friday because his detention over a territorial dispute has strained bilateral relations, the transport ministry said.

Heading home: Chinese fishing boat captain Zhan Qixiong will soon be released. KYODO PHOTO
The decision to release him was announced earlier in the day by the Naha Prosecutor's Office in Okinawa Prefecture.
The decision came roughly two weeks after Japan arrested Zhan Qixion, the 41-year-old skipper of a fishing boat that reportedly collided with Japan Coast Guard vessels near the Senkaku Islands in the East China Sea that are claimed by both nations.
A prosecutor at the Naha Prosecutors Office said the decision came after "careful consideration of future Japan-China relations" and the repercussions caused by the incident.
It is possible the skipper could be indicted later, but this is highly unlikely.
The office didn't say when Zhan would be released, but sources said it would take place Friday evening.
Meanwhile, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshito Sengoku said Zhan's release was decided by the prosecutors independently, denying any influence by the central government.
"I understand that the prosecutors reached the decision based on criminal law," he said.
Sengoku also said that Prime Minister Naoto Kan, who is in New York, was notified of the decision and that the release was not related in any way to Kan's meeting Thursday with U.S. President Barack Obama.
Political experts were highly critical of the timing of the decision and warned that the spat will only increase China's clout in the region.
Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao has taken a hardline stance on the issue and threatened to take action if Japan did not immediately release the captain. Meanwhile, reports are circulating that Beijing has unofficially banned exports of rare earth materials to Japan.
The spat also led to the suspension of high-level meetings between Beijing and Tokyo.
Toshikazu Inoue, a professor at Gakushuin University, said the captain's release came at the worst possible time for Tokyo diplomatically, given that Japan was forced to yield to China.
"(The captain) should have been deported immediately after the incident occurred," Inoue said. "Or if not, he should have been thoroughly subjected to Japanese law and been indicted and put on trial — releasing him at this time was the worst possible thing to do."
Inoue said now that Japan has buckled, China might ease off. On the other hand, Inoue warned that China might continue to take the initiative on the territorial issue by using its rising clout to exploit recent turbulence in Japanese-U.S. ties.
Mineo Nakajima, president of Akita International University and an expert on Japanese-Chinese relations, added that Beijing's high-handed move is part of a global strategy and not just a plot aimed at Japan.
"If China compromises with Japan, it will damage its entire strategy" on territorial issues, Nakajima said. "It's not just about the issue involving the Senkaku Islands."
Nakajima said China is trying to send a strong message to its Asian neighbors, including Vietnam and the Philippines, which are embroiled in separate territorial disputes over the Spratly Islands and the Parcel Islands in the South China Sea.
"What China wants is natural and marine resources," Nakajima said.
China first claimed the Senkaku Islands in 1969 after it became known the year before that there were abundant natural resources beneath the islands, he said.
The Chinese captain was arrested Sept. 8 by the Japan Coast Guard on suspicion of causing his trawler to collide with a patrol boat the previous day near the Senkaku Islands, which are administered by Japan but claimed by China and Taiwan.
Zhan is also suspected of illegally fishing in Japanese territorial waters.
The remaining 14 members of the crew have already returned to China after being questioned by coast guard officials.
Information from Kyodo added