Japan's coastguard has sent a $170,000 bill to the captain of a Chinese trawler that collided with two of its boats near disputed islands and sparked a major diplomatic spat, a report said Thursday.
Zhang Qixiong is being asked to pay 12.39 million yen ($150,000) for repairs to "two Coast Guard patrol vessels and the remainder for other costs including money spent to dispatch officials for the repairs," Kyodo News reported.
The trawlerman was arrested last September after the collision off a disputed but uninhabited chain of islands in the East China Sea known as Senkaku in Japan and Diaoyu in China.
His arrest and subsequent detention sparked a massive showdown between Beijing and Tokyo, leading to a freeze in political exchanges and affecting exports of rare earth minerals, a key component in Japan's high-tech sector.
Japan eventually backed down amid mounting pressure from Beijing and sent Zhang back to China. Last month it formally dropped charges against the trawlerman.
The coastguard's bill comes despite improving ties with China and as Japan has renewed diplomatic hostilities with Russia over disputed islands to its north.
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