Japan was Thursday considering whether to prosecute or deport 14 people it arrested after pro-China activists landed on a disputed island, as Beijing angrily demanded their immediate release.

Two Japanese cabinet ministers visited a controversial war shrine Wednesday on the anniversary of Tokyo's World War II surrender, a move set to heighten South Korean anger over an island dispute.

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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.

Japan summoned the Chinese ambassador on Wednesday as a diplomatic row flared up after three Chinese patrol boats approached a chain of islands at the centre of a bitter territorial dispute.

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China and Japan hold high-level maritime talks on Wednesday expected to focus on a group of uninhabited islands that are at the heart of an ongoing territorial row between the two countries.

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