In a worsening diplomatic row between the Asian giants, China summoned Japan's ambassador for a second time since the incident on Tuesday near a disputed island chain in the East China Sea, the foreign ministry said.

China "demanded that the Japanese side immediately release the ship and crew members on board and guarantee their safety", assistant foreign minister Hu Zhengyue told Japan's ambassador Uichiro Niwa, the ministry said.

Beijing also sent embassy staff to Japan's southern Ishigaki island where officials started questioning the Chinese skipper, and where his fishing vessel with its 14 crew was expected to arrive later in the day.

Japan, which suspects the captain hit its patrol ships deliberately in the confrontation, is holding the captain on suspicion of obstructing officers on duty, which carries a maximum three years' jail.

The captain responded to interrogation obediently, Kyodo News agency reported, quoting Japan Coast Guard officials.

The incident started Tuesday morning when Japan's 1,300-ton patrol boat Yonakuni ordered the trawler to cease operations in the disputed waters.

In the ensuing confrontation, the Chinese boat's bow hit the Yonakuni's stern before it sailed off. About 40 minutes later it collided with another Japanese patrol boat, the Mizuki, the Coast Guard said.

Four Japanese patrol ships then pursued the Chinese vessel, and Coast Guard personnel later boarded it to question the captain and crew over the incident and on suspicion of violating Japan's fisheries law.

The incident happened near a disputed string of five small islands -- known as Senkaku in Japan, Diaoyu in China, and Diaoyutai in Taiwan -- which lies between Japan's far-southern Okinawa island and Taiwan.

Controlled by Tokyo, but also long claimed by Beijing and Taipei, the uninhabited islands lie in an area believed to hold seabed oil deposits and have often sparked regional tensions.

Japanese senior foreign ministry official Akitaka Saiki on Tuesday informed China's ambassador Cheng Yonghua that "Tokyo will enforce its domestic laws" and pursue a criminal case against the captain.

China expressed its "great concern" and made a "solemn representations" to Japan, which it reiterated on Wednesday.

Chinese foreign ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu said Beijing had stressed that the islands have been part of Chinese territory since ancient times and urged Japan to stop its "so-called law enforcement activities".

On Wednesday, Japan's top government spokesman, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshito Sengoku, told a news conference: "Our country is going to strictly deal with the case based on our law."

But he also said that "it is necessary to deal with the case calmly, not to heat things up in Japan. We have to conduct diplomatic dialogue firmly. Japan's stance is that a territorial problem does not exist."

Around 35 Chinese protesters rallied outside the Japanese embassy in Beijing for 20 minutes on Wednesday morning, an embassy official said.

"They expressed their feelings on the so-called Diaoyu Island issue," the official said. "We received a written letter of protest from them. We don't have comment on this issue."

China's state-controlled Global Times said in a commentary Wednesday: "If it were Chinese naval boats smashing into Japanese fishing boats in some disputed area, how would the Japanese public react?"

The English-language newspaper warned of the risk of the row escalating, saying that "Japan's irresponsible moves may eventually set fire to the Sino-Japanese relationship, or even force a military showdown."

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