Japan has urged China to take measures to deal with Chinese fishermen who are poaching red coral in Japanese waters, as both countries discuss a possible meeting between Shinzo Abe, Japan’s prime minister, and Xi Jinping, China’s president, at the Apec summit next week.
Tokyo says more than 200 Chinese fishing boats have been poaching the coral, a valuable resource used in jewellery, off the Ogasawara and Izu island chains. Five Chinese boat captains have been arrested in the past month. The Japanese government said it had lodged multiple protests with Beijing since the fisherman were first spotted more than a month ago.
Fumio Kishida, Japan’s foreign minister, on Tuesday called on Beijing to tackle the issue, which has become the latest threat to relations between the powers. Mr Xi and Mr Abe have yet to meet because of a range of disputes, including the Senkaku Islands – which China also claims and calls the Diaoyu – in the East China Sea and Mr Abe’s decision to visit Yasukuni, a controversial war shrine, last December.