China suspended high-level exchanges with Japan and warned it would take “strong countermeasures” after a Japanese court extended the detention of a Chinese fishing boat captain arrested nearly two weeks ago.
The court in Japan’s southern Okinawa prefecture decided on Sunday to extend the detention of Zhan Qixiong, skipper of a boat that Japanese officials say rammed coast guard ships that were trying to escort it away from uninhabited islands that are claimed by both China and Japan.
His detention was due to expire on Sunday but prosecutors now have until September 29 to decide whether to charge him. The boat and its crew have already been released back to China.