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By Jia Cheng Chinese fishermen were released Saturday after a week-long detention by South Korean authorities. The move aimed at averting a diplomatic row with China over the collision of a Chinese vessel with a South Korean coast guard ship in the Yellow Sea. "Three crewmembers flew to Dalian with Chinese embassy's officials from Incheon International Airport, west of Seoul, on Saturday," Wang Gang, a Seoul correspondent for the Beijing-based Legal Daily newspaper, told the Global Times Sunday. The Yonhap News Agency quoted a coast guard official as saying the crewmen were "not involved in the crime at the time," and they were "fully cooperating in the investigation." "The issue has nothing to do with political or diplomatic concerns between China and South Korea, since it was just an accident," Cai Jian, vice director of the Center for Korean Studies at Fudan University, told the Global Times. South Korean media treated the Chinese fishing actions as illegal and said "Seoul submitted to pressure by increasingly assertive regional power China, which demanded Seoul make amends for the ship sinking," the Korea Herald reported. The 63-ton Chinese fishing vessle sank December 18 after ramming a 3,000-ton South Korean coast guard ship, which caused one crew member dead and another missing. Despite the controversial issue coming under intense domestic criticism in South Korea, the country has been cooperating to solve the problem. The South Korean government showed it was willing to have a joint investigation with China over the issue, just five days after the incident. Cai said, "South Korean media and people have criticized the government, saying it was taking a weak attitude over the issue, but the government's decision was intended to avoid diplomatic tensions with China, since Seoul is already struggling to deal with Pyongyang." "South Korea needs support from China on the Korean Peninsula issue, and it relies on China in many ways, so the government has no reason to let such an accident affect diplomatic relations with China," Cai added. |
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