Uichiro Niwa

Japan's government underestimated how China would react to its decision to buy islands at the centre of a bitter territorial dispute, Tokyo's former envoy to Beijing said Monday.

Japan's new envoy to China urged stronger economic ties with Beijing in an interview broadcast Monday, after the incoming premier pledged to mend bilateral ties strained by a bitter territorial row.

Japan's new envoy to China urged stronger economic ties with Beijing in an interview broadcast on Monday, after the incoming premier pledged to mend bilateral ties strained by a bitter territorial row.

Japan will name a career diplomat as its ambassador to China -- with the neighbours in a bitter territorial row -- after the newly appointed envoy fell ill and died last month, according to reports.

Japan will name a career diplomat as its ambassador to China -- with the neighbours in a bitter territorial row -- after the newly appointed envoy fell ill and died last month, according to reports.

The newly appointed Japanese envoy to China died in a Tokyo hospital on Sunday, officials said, ruling out any link to growing anti-Japan protests in Chinese cities over an escalating territorial row.

The new Japanese ambassador to China was hospitalised in Tokyo on Thursday, an official said, with media reporting he had collapsed unconscious.

Japan's foreign minister Tuesday said it was time to address relations with China which have soured over a territorial dispute as an incident targeting the Japanese ambassador added to tensions.

The car carrying Japan's ambassador to China was targeted in Beijing on Monday by a man who ripped off the vehicle's national flag, prompting a protest by Tokyo, Japanese officials said.

A car carrying the Japanese ambassador to China was targeted in Beijing on Monday by a man who ripped off the vehicle's Japanese flag, a foreign ministry official said.

Japan plans to replace its ambassador to China possibly in October amid a growing territorial row over a group of islands in the East China Sea, the Japanese daily Yomiuri Shimbun reported on Sunday.

Japan arrested 14 people after pro-China activists landed Wednesday on an island at the centre of a bitter territorial row in an episode that threatens to further destabilise fractious ties.

Japan's ambassador to China returned to Beijing on Monday, after being summoned to Tokyo for crisis talks over disputed waters in the East China Sea, an embassy official said.

Japan recalled its ambassador to China for consultations on Sunday amid a simmering row between the Asian powers over disputed territory in the East China Sea, reports said.

BEIJING/TOKYO (Reuters) - China released three Japanese citizens on Thursday whose detention had added to tensions between Asia's two top economies, but a fourth remains in custody in a sign that the row is not yet over.

China on Thursday released three of four Japanese men held in the north of the country for allegedly filming a military site amid a bitter diplomatic standoff between Beijing and Tokyo.

Japan demanded Monday that China pull back two fisheries patrol boats from near a disputed island chain that is at the centre of the worst diplomatic row in years between the Asian giants.

Japan will ask China to pay for damage to two coastguard boats from collisions with a trawler that sparked a heated diplomatic dispute, top government spokesman Yoshito Sengoku said Monday.

Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan Sunday rejected China's call for an apology and compensation for the detention of a Chinese trawlerman, a day after the captain returned home to public acclaim.

Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan Sunday rejected China's call for an apology and compensation for the detention of a Chinese trawlerman, a day after the captain returned home to public acclaim.