The episode on Thursday off southern Japan came three months after Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi suggested that Japan would intervene militarily if Beijing sought to take Taiwan by force.
China swiftly reacted to the seizure, the Japanese fisheries' agency first since 2022 of a Chinese fishing boat, by urging Japan to protect the rights of Chinese crew.
"It is hoped Japan strictly respects the China-Japan fisheries agreement, fairly enforces the law and safeguards the safety and legitimate rights and interests of Chinese crew members," foreign ministry spokesman Lin Jian told a news conference on Friday.
Japan's fisheries agency said the vessel's captain was ordered to stop for an inspection, but the boat "failed to comply and fled".
"Consequently, the vessel's captain was arrested on the same day," the agency said in a statement.
The boat was inside Japan's exclusive economic zone 89.4 nautical miles (166 kilometres) south-southwest of Meshima island in the Goto archipelago, Japan's statement said -- not a disputed area.
The captain was named as Chinese national Zheng Nianli, 47. The status of the other 10 people on board the vessel, named the Qiong Dong Yu, was unclear.
"To prevent illegal fishing operations by foreign vessels, we will continue to take firm action and engage in enforcement activities," chief government spokesman Minoru Kihara said.
China has a number of territorial tussles with Japan, and there have been repeated incidents around the Senkaku Islands, known as the Diaoyu in China.
The 2010 arrest of another Chinese fishing boat captain off those islands in the East China Sea became a major diplomatic incident.
- Taiwan spat -
Japan and China have close economic ties but Takaichi's comments about Taiwan have sent relations spiralling downwards again.
China has long insisted that Taiwan, occupied for decades by Japan until 1945, is its territory and has not ruled out force to achieve "reunification".
Taiwanese President Lai Ching-te told AFP in an interview this week that other countries -- including Japan -- would be China's next targets should Beijing seize the democratic island.
"The next countries under threat would be Japan, the Philippines, and others in the Indo-Pacific region, with repercussions eventually reaching the Americas and Europe," Lai said.
After Takaichi's comments, Beijing summoned Tokyo's ambassador, warned Chinese citizens against visiting Japan and conducted joint air drills with Russia.
In December, J-15 jets from China's Liaoning aircraft carrier twice locked radar on Japanese aircraft in international waters near Okinawa, according to Japan.
China also tightened controls on exports to Japan for items with potential military uses, fuelling worries that Beijing may choke supplies of vital rare-earth minerals.
Japan's last two pandas were even returned to China last month.
- Hawkish leader -
Takaichi, 64, was seen as a China hawk before becoming Japan's first woman prime minister in October.
She won a landslide victory in snap elections on Sunday, putting her in a strong position for the next four years to stamp her mark on Japanese domestic and foreign policy.
Takaichi said Monday that under her leadership Japan -- which hosts some 60,000 US military personnel -- would bolster its defences and "steadfastly protect" its territory.
She also said that she was "open to various dialogues with China".
But China's foreign ministry said "genuine dialogue should be built on respect for one another".
"Proclaiming dialogue with one's mouth while engaging in confrontation -- no one will accept this kind of dialogue," foreign ministry spokesman Lin Jian said Tuesday.
"If Japan truly wants to develop a strategic and mutually beneficial relationship with China, it's very easy and clear: withdraw Takaichi's erroneous remarks about Taiwan," he said.
Timeline of Japan and China's spat
Tokyo (AFP) Feb 13, 2026 -
A spat between Tokyo and Beijing following Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi's suggestion of Japanese military action if China invaded Taiwan isn't going away.
AFP tracks the timeline of the dispute between Asia's two biggest economies -- whose relations have long been frosty -- after Japan seized a Chinese fishing vessel and arrested its captain.
- November 7, 2025: Takaichi lets rip -
If a Taiwan emergency "entailed battleships and the use of force, then that could constitute a situation threatening the survival (of Japan)," Takaichi proclaims.
The apparently unscripted remarks in a budget committee meeting in parliament depart from past premiers' more cautious language.
China has long insisted that Taiwan, occupied for decades by Japan until 1945, is its territory and has not ruled out force to achieve "reunification".
- November 13: ambassador summoned -
China summons Japan's ambassador and demands -- in vain -- that Takaichi retract her remarks.
The next day Japan calls in the Chinese ambassador over an X post by the Osaka consul general threatening, with apparent reference to Takaichi, to "cut off that dirty neck".
- November 14: travel warning -
China's embassy warns its citizens against travel to Japan, citing "significant risks to the personal safety and lives of Chinese citizens".
The number of Chinese visitors to Japan -- previously the biggest contingent -- tumbles 45 percent in December to 330,000.
- November 17: Taiwan calls out China -
Taiwanese President Lai Ching-te calls on China to "show restraint, act like a major power, and not become the troublemaker".
Beijing then says premier Li Qiang has no plans to meet with Takaichi in a G20 summit in South Africa.
- November 18: talks -
Masaaki Kanai, the top official for Asia-Pacific affairs in Japan's foreign ministry, tries to defuse the situation in Beijing.
The talks make little progress and images on Chinese state media of Kanai appearing to bow to his counterpart go viral on Chinese social media.
- November 19: seafood import ban -
Japanese media report that China will suspend imports of Japanese seafood.
China had only recently resumed purchasing some items after banning them following Japan's release of wastewater from the Fukushima nuclear plant in 2023.
- November 23: Koizumi talks up missiles -
Japanese Defence Minister Shinjiro Koizumi travels to Yonaguni island near Taiwan and says that plans to deploy missiles there are on track.
China calls the deployment a "deliberate attempt to create regional tension and provoke military confrontation".
- November 25: Trump calls -
Donald Trump and Takaichi speak. Officials deny that the US president, after first talking to China's Xi Jinping, advised her not to provoke Beijing over Taiwan.
Culture isn't spared. On November 28, Japanese singer Maki Otsuki abandons a performance in Shanghai part-way through the "One Piece" theme song when the music and lights are cut.
- December 6: midair incident -
J-15 jets from China's Liaoning aircraft carrier twice lock radar on Japanese aircraft in international waters near Okinawa, according to Japan.
On December 9, Russian and Chinese bombers rendezvous in the East China Sea and fly around Japan, Tokyo says.
The next day the Japanese and US air forces conduct their "tactical exercises" involving two US B52 bombers.
- December 29: Taiwan exercises -
China begins major military drills with dozens of fighter aircraft and navy ships conducting live-fire drills around Taiwan.
- January 6, 2026: export controls -
China announces tightened controls on exports to Japan for items with potential military uses.
The statement fuels worries that Beijing may choke supplies of vital rare earth minerals, some of which are included in China's list of "dual-use" goods.
- January 27: pandas go -
Pandas Lei Lei and Xiao Xiao leave for China, leaving Japan without any of the beloved bamboo-eating bears for the first time in 50 years, and locals distraught.
"It feels like my own children are going somewhere far away," Nene Hashino, a woman in her 40s wearing a panda-themed jacket and clutching a bear stuffed toy, tells AFP.
- February 8: Takaichi landslide -
Takaichi wins a landslide election victory, giving her ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) its first ever two-thirds majority.
She says she is open to dialogue with China but Beijing says she should withdraw her remarks about Taiwan first.
"Proclaiming dialogue with one's mouth while engaging in confrontation -- no one will accept this kind of dialogue," China says.
- February 10: Lai warning -
"If Taiwan were to be annexed, the next countries under threat would be Japan, the Philippines, and others in the Indo-Pacific region, with repercussions eventually reaching the Americas and Europe," Taiwan's Lai tells AFP.
- February 12: fishing boat seized -
Japan seizes a Chinese fishing vessel and arrests its captain in undisputed waters near the Goto archipelago.
"The vessel's captain was ordered to stop for an inspection by a fisheries inspector, but the vessel failed to comply and fled," Japan's fisheries agency says.
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