Ship seizure ‘not for compensation’
Print Edition
CHINA’S seizure of a Japanese ship was for delayed rent and losses owed to a Chinese firm and was unrelated to wartime compensation, Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang said yesterday.
His comments came after Japan’s chief government spokesman Yoshihide Suga said the seizure “undermined” the 1972 joint communique that normalized ties between Japan and China, in which Beijing agreed to renounce “its demand for war reparation from Japan.”
Shanghai’s Maritime Court detained Baosteel Emotion, owned by Mitsui OSK Lines, on Saturday, to pay money owed to a Chinese firm.
The Japanese shipping firm was sued in 1988 over delays in rent payments for two ships and economic losses dating back to the 1930s. The maritime court ruled in 2007 that it should compensate the Chinese firm 2.9 billion yen (US$28.4 million).
Shanghai Higher People’s Court issued a final verdict in 2010, backing the 2007 judgment.
The maritime court said it will dispose of the ship if the Japanese firm continues to refuse to fulfill its obligation.
The spat over the ship was a “regular business contract dispute,” Qin said.
“As a commercial lawsuit, the enforcement of the verdict was carried out at the request of the plaintiff. It is unrelated to wartime compensation,” Qin said.
“Nothing has changed in the Chinese government’s position on adhering to, and defending every principle in the Sino-Japanese Joint statement,” he added.
“China will continue to protect the interests and rights of foreign investors in China according to law,” Qin said.
Reports said that in 1936, Mitsui’s predecessor Daido Shipping Co rented two ships on a one-year contract from Zhongwei Shipping Co.
However, the ships were commandeered by the Imperial Japanese Navy and were sunk during World War II.
Mitsui has argued that it is not liable to pay compensation given that the ships which Daido rented were requisitioned by the Japanese military during the war, according to a report by Japan’s Kyodo News.
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