Japan indicts Chinese trawlerman at centre of spat

Japan on Thursday indicted a Chinese trawlerman whose ramming of two Japanese coastguard vessels sparked a diplomatic showdown, in a symbolic move that was likely to fizzle out. The formal indictment came after an independent review panel overturned a decision by prosecutors to drop charges against captain Zhang Qixiong over the incident near disputed islands in the East China Sea.
Now two court-appointed lawyers, serving as prosecutors, have formally charged the 42-year-old captain, even though he is in China and highly unlikely to respond to the move.