BEIJING — Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan on Sunday rejected China's repeated demand that Tokyo apologize and offer compensation for the arrest of a Chinese boat captain whose detention caused relations between the Asian neighbors to plunge to their lowest level in years.
The diplomatic back-and-forth over the weekend demonstrated that nationalistic sentiments stirred up by the incident show few signs of dissipating. Tensions have already affected business ties between the nations' intertwined economies — the world's second- and third-largest.
"I have no intention of accepting (the demand) at all," Kan was quoted as saying by Kyodo News agency. "It is important for both sides to act with a broader point of view."
