TOKYO, Oct 9, 2010 (AFP) - Prime Minister Naoto Kan said Saturday he believed Japan's ties with China were recovering after Beijing released the last of four Japanese workers it had held for filming a military site.
China freed Sadamu Takahashi on bail Saturday, nine days after freeing his three fellow construction workers, who had been detained since September 20 in the northern province of Hebei amid a diplomatic storm.
China's Xinhua news agency reported Takahashi had been ordered to write a "statement of repentance".
Kan told reporters: "I believe various things are returning to where they were before."
Takahashi's release came five days after Kan and Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao met in Brussels amid efforts to ease tensions following Japan's arrest of a Chinese captain for ramming his trawler into Japanese coastguard boats in disputed waters in the East China Sea.
Kan said he had agreed with Wen to "resume high-level political exchanges" suspended following the sea incident. The captain was released on September 25.
"This is already on the move," he added.
The other three Japanese were released on September 30 after admitting to violating Chinese law.
China has denied their arrests were related to the sea incident.
But Japanese Foreign Minister Seiji Maehara said he would ask Beijing why Takahashi's detention had been so prolonged.
"We want to request explanations from the Chinese side about why he was placed under so-called residential surveillance for such a long period of time," Maehara told public broadcaster NHK.
According to the Jiji Press news agency, Takahashi arrived in Shanghai from Shijiazhuang, the capital of Hubei, late Saturday and was to leave for Tokyo Sunday morning.
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