Japan protests China’s detention of citizen, maritime action

By MARI YAMAGUCHI and HUIZHONG WU
Associated Press

TOKYO (AP) — Japan’s foreign minister has protested in a meeting with his Chinese counterpart the detention of a Japanese national in Beijing and raised “strong concern” about China’s escalating military activity near Taiwan and around Japan. Yoshimasa Hayashi is on a two-day visit to China, becoming Japan’s first diplomat to make the trip in more than three years as frictions grow between the countries. During his talks with Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang, Hayashi demanded an early release of an employee of a Japanese pharmaceutical company who was detained in Beijing last month over what the Chinese Foreign Ministry described as spying allegations. Qin meanwhile warned against Japanese involvement in issues related to Taiwan, the self-ruled island that China claims as its own.