beyondbrics

There is no word so far about the substance of the three-day talks in Beijing between a US team headed by Lawrence Summers, president Barack Obama’s economic adviser, and Chinese officials – even though there has been lots to talk about, starting with security, trade issues and the renminbi.

But there are big headlines today about China’s relations with its next most important political and economic partner – Japan. In a long-running row over disputed waters in the East China Sea, Japan arrested the captain of a Chinese fishing boat that collided with two Japanese coastguard ships.

While both sides lodged diplomatic protests, neither seems to want to escalate the row. But the dispute does at least provide plenty of cover for those interested in distracting public attention from the China-US talks.

As Reuters reports, the Chinese captain’s arrest came a day after Beijing summoned the Japanese ambassador to China to protest against what it called the illegal interception of the Chinese vessel. Japan’s top government spokesman called for calm, saying: “Japan should not get too excited and should react calmly.”

The incident took place near a group of East China Sea islets, called Senkaku in Japan and Diaoyu in China, over which Tokyo and Beijing as well as Taiwan claim sovereignty.

Reuters reports that no one, including 30 Chinese crew on the fishing boat, has been injured and the arrested captain has been transported to the southern Japanese island of Ishigaki for questioning.

Meanwhile, in Beijing, in a brief public interlude in the US-China talks, Chinese President Hu Jintao told Summers and Deputy National Security Adviser Tom Donilon that the discussions were going well.

According to Reuters, Hu, who is likely to visit the US early next year, said: “I’ve heard your discussions have gone well. I’m sure that this visit will certainly enhance mutual communication and mutual trust.”

But Summers and co have clearly not spent three days in Beijing exchanging pleansantries. As Geoff Dyer, the FT’s Beijing bureau chief, wrote earlier for beyondbrics - trade tensions are simmering and the next set of figures is published on Friday. At that point, if not earlier, somebody will have to say something.