China Boat Skipper Handed to Prosecutors

Naha, Sept. 9 (Jiji Press)--The Japan Coast Guard on Thursday sent
to prosecutors in Okinawa Prefecture the captain of a Chinese trawler that
collided with Coast Guard patrol ships in the Japanese waters near disputed
islands in the East China sea.
The 41-year-old Chinese skipper, Zhan Qixiong, was arrested
Wednesday on charges of obstructing public duties of officers of the
maritime safety agency by crashing the trawler into the "Mizuki" patrol
vessel, which was chasing the boat for onboard inspections on suspicion of
illegal fishing operations in Japanese territory.
The incident took place some 15 kilometers northwest of Kubajima,
one of the disputed Senkaku islands, also called Diaoyu in China, around
10:55 a.m. Tuesday (1:55 a.m. GMT the same day). Before hitting and damaging
the Muzuki, the Chinese boat on the run had a minor collision with the
"Yonakuni," another Coast Guard ship, according to investigation.
The skipper, handed to the Naha District Public Prosecutors
Office's branch on Ishigaki Island in the southernmost prefecture, has
admitted that his boat collided with the Mizuki but denied the public duty
obstruction charges, Coast Guard officials said.
The Coast Guard office on Ishigaki plans to inspect the Chinese
boat and question other crew members further, because they may have violated
laws that regulate fishing operations by foreign vessels in Japanese
territorial waters, the officials said.


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