China rejects conclusion by Japanese judicial panel on captain+

BEIJING, April 19 Kyodo -
The Chinese Foreign Ministry on Tuesday slammed as ''unlawful and invalid'' a Japanese independent judicial panel's conclusion the previous day that a Chinese captain should be indicted over collisions in September involving his trawler and Japanese patrol boats near the disputed Senkaku Islands in the East China Sea.
''All judiciary proceedings by Japan against the captain are unlawful and invalid,'' ministry spokesman Hong Lei said at a regular news conference.
The panel said in its decision that the captain ''merits indictment'' after looking into the case at the request of five people, including a journalist living in Chiba Prefecture.
In Tokyo, Japanese Foreign Minister Takeaki Matsumoto refrained from directly commenting on the case at a press conference, only saying he expects Japanese prosecutors ''to make an appropriate judgment based on laws'' on whether to indict the captain following the panel's conclusion.
Matsumoto also told a Diet session earlier in the day he is ''not in a position to protest'' to China over the case.
The skipper Zhan Qixiong was arrested on Sept. 7 on suspicion of deliberately colliding with the Japanese patrol boat Mizuki near the Senkaku Islands, administered by Japan but claimed by China and Taiwan. The Naha District Public Prosecutors Office released him out of consideration for Japan-China ties on Sept. 25.
China has repeatedly used the same expressions before, such as when prosecutors decided to release the trawler captain.
The spokesman also reasserted China's claim that the islands, known as Diaoyu in China, are an integral part of Chinese territory from ancient times.