A Chinese fishing boat fled with about 10 officials of Japan's Fisheries Agency on board on Nov. 5, after the officials boarded the boat to conduct an on-the-spot inspection on suspicion of illegal fishing in Japan's exclusive economic zone, it was learned on Thursday.
The officials were held for more than half a day, but escaped uninjured. The agency said it is investigating the captain of the boat and others on suspicion of violating the law on sovereign fishing rights in the EEZ.
After detecting two Chinese boats that they suspected of illegal trawling in the sea off Kagoshima Prefecture inside the EEZ on the morning of Nov. 5, agency officials on the patrol boat Shirahagi-maru boarded one of the boats and began an inspection, the sources said. The boat then fled westward with the officials on board.
The boat ignored repeated orders to stop issued by the agency patrol boat and a patrol vessel of the Japan Coast Guard that came at the request of the agency, and entered intermediate waters where boats can conduct fishing without permission in Japan's exclusive economic zone.
Considering it dangerous to continue the inspection after dark, the agency officials on board the Chinese boat ceased their inspection and returned to the nearby agency patrol boat on the evening of the same day. The government has requested through diplomatic channels that Beijing deal with the captain of the boat and others based on Chinese laws.
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