Beijing:
Chinese authorities have released three of four Japanese citizens who were accused last week of videotaping at a military installation in northern China, state media reported on Thursday.
Although one of the detained men remains in custody, the releases are likely to be construed as a modest attempt by China to reduce tensions that have been mounting since Sept. 7, when a collision between a Chinese fishing trawler and Japanese coast guard vessels in disputed waters prompted an ugly diplomatic row between the countries.
In announcing the releases, the official news service, Xinhua, said the three men had admitted that they had violated Chinese law and "showed regret for their mistake."
But it said that the fourth man, Sada Takahashi, would remain under "house arrest" while the authorities continued their investigation. Xinhua described the accusations against him as "illegally videotaping military targets." The men, who were arrested on Sept. 23, were detained at a military installation in Shijiazhuang, a city in Hebei Province, not far from Beijing.
The Japanese foreign minister, Seiji Maehara, called on China to free Mr. Takahashi and explain the reasons behind the detentions, which came on the same day that Japan, under immense pressure from China, released the captain of the trawler, who was accused of deliberately ramming Japanese boats.
"I want to seek a quick resolution," Mr. Maehara said, referring to the remaining detainee.
Yutaka Banno, the state secretary for foreign affairs, told reporters that a Japanese Embassy official had spoken by telephone with the three men who were freed and confirmed their safety.
"We will ask China to ensure the safety of the remaining one, our continued access to him and a quick settlement of the case from a humanitarian standpoint," Mr. Banno said.
Officials at Fujita, the construction company that employed the men, said they were inspecting a potential construction site for a plant that would process abandoned chemical weapons. Fujita built a similar plant in Nanjing that disposes of munitions abandoned by Japanese forces during its occupation of China, the company said in a news release.
The release of the three men came amid signs that the diplomatic standoff between Japan and China may be easing, although neither side has made any broad gestures of reconciliation.
The dispute between the countries stems from conflicting territorial claims over a chain of uninhabited islands in the East China Sea that Japan controls.
On Thursday, Prime Minister Naoto Kan again proclaimed Japan's claim over the islands, known as the Senkaku in Japan and the Diaoyu in China.
"Territorial problems don't exist between Japan and China," he told Parliament.
Later in the day, a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman urged Tokyo to stop making "irresponsible remarks" about the episode. "We are willing to resolve our disputes through friendly negotiations, but the Chinese government's and people's will and resolve are unswerving on issues involving China's territorial integrity and sovereignty," Jiang Yu, the spokeswoman, said during a regular news conference.
In the meantime, Chinese shipments of rare earths to Japan have yet to resume, although some industry officials said the refusal of Chinese customs officials to process export applications had eased slightly since they were halted last week. The Chinese Commerce Ministry has denied that there is even a ban of the minerals, which are crucial to Japanese manufacturers.