Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan waded into an acrimonious dispute over Japan’s detention of a Chinese fisherman on Sunday, dismissing China’s demands for an apology and compensation as out of the question. The row has bounced back and forth between the two sides with demands for an apology and rejections, illustrating the fragility of ties between Asia’s two biggest economies troubled by Chinese memories of wartime occupation and maritime territorial disputes. Fishing trawler captain Zhan Qixiong was released and arrived back in China on Saturday after his boat collided with Japanese patrol ships on Sept 7 near disputed islets, known as the Diaoyu in Chinese and Senkaku in Japanese. His trawler and crew had earlier been freed.
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