Japanese navy rescues a Chinese cargo, 64 crew members safe
Tokyo (AsiaNews /
Agencies) - The Japanese coast guard rescued a Chinese cargo on fire, perhaps
due to an engine explosion, saving the lives of all 64 crew members of the
vessel flying the flag of Beijing. The
rescue operation took place in the time of tension between China and Japan, caught
up in a territorial dispute concerning the archipelago of the Diaoyu / Senkaku
Islands, a group of islets in the East China Sea. It
has created a situation of tension between the two nations, which has hit the
economy of the Rising Sun hard in particular in the field of exports to foreign
countries (and China in particular).
The
rescue took place yesterday, but the emergency began on the evening of October
20 when the Taiwan authorities sounded the alarm for a fire on board the Ming
Yang, a Chinese cargo ship of more than 12 thousand tons. The
boat was located about 150 km from the coast of Okinawa, in the south-east. The
rescue efforts of the Japanese Coast Guard started at 2:30 yesterday morning
and ended after just over an hour. All
the 64 crew members of Chinese nationality were saved, with three of them
having suffered minor injuries.
The
rescue took place in a time of great tension between Tokyo and Beijing, both in
contention over the Diaoyu Islands / Senkaku. The
Chinese navy recently launched military exercises to practice "the liberation of Chinese territories
conquered by foreign powers."
The
tensions caused strong repercussions in the economy and trade, especially for
Japan. In
September, Japanese exports to China experienced a dramatic fall over the same
period of 2011, while touching the lowest point in 30 years. According
to data released by the Ministry of Finance, the foreign exports fell by 10.3%,
while those to China have posted a negative index of 14.1% compared to
September 2011. The
monthly trade deficit of 558.6 billion Japanese yen (just over 7 billion dollars), a figure of opposite sign
compared to the same period last year when Tokyo showed a surplus of around 288
billion yen.
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