Japan’s fisheries agency said the vessel failed to comply with an order to stop. The incident comes weeks after a row between China and Japan over Taiwan
Authorities in Japan have seized a Chinese fishing boat and arrested its captain in a move that is likely to inflame an ongoing diplomatic row between Tokyo and Beijing.
The seizure, which occurred on Thursday about 170km from the south-western port city of Nagasaki, came after the skipper refused an order to stop for an onboard inspection, according to media reports.
A Japanese fisheries agency vessel intercepted the Chinese boat and its 11 crew after spotting it in Japan’s exclusive economic zone – an area within 200 nautical miles (370km) of its coastline.
It is the first time the agency has seized a Chinese fishing boat since 2022, and the first incident of its kind involving any foreign fishing vessel this year. In 2025 it inspected a Taiwanese and South Korean vessel as part of a crackdown on illegal fishing.
