Japan's coastguard on Sunday arrested the captain of a Chinese fishing boat that allegedly intruded into Japanese territorial waters, a report said. The 47-year-old captain was arrested on charges of violating fishing laws in Japan's exclusive economic zone, Jiji Press said, citing the coastguard.
The coastguard's regional headquarters in the city of Nagasaki said its patrol ship spotted two Chinese fishing boats in waters close to the Goto Islands, off Japan's south-western coast, the report said.
After the two vessels rejected its order to stop for on-board inspections, the patrol ship chased one of the two for nearly four-and-a-half-hours. Japan-China relations plunged to their lowest level in years in September 2010 when a Chinese trawler rammed two Japanese coastguard patrol boats near disputed islands in the East China Sea, called Senkaku in Japan and Diaoyu in China.
The coastguard arrested the Chinese boat's captain and held him for 14 days.
The arrest sparked serious protests from China, which cut or dramatically reduced political, cultural and economic exchanges with Japan. Earlier this year the two countries agreed to improve ties following the incident.