The Chinese fishing boat captain—at the heart of a heated diplomatic row between the Chinese regime and Japan—was released over the weekend. He'd been detained for more than two weeks in Japan. Here's more on this story.

Chinese fishing boat captain Zhan Qixiong arrived in Fuzhou, the capital of China's southeastern Fujian province on Saturday, after being detained in Japan for more than two weeks.

Zhan's boat had collided with two Japanese patrol vessels near the disputed island chain, called Senkaku in Japanese and Diaoyu in Chinese, and was arrested by Japanese authorities on September 8.

Chinese boats often try to fish the waters around the island, but Japanese authorities who administer the island chain, usually respond by simply chasing them away.

Zhan's arrest happened to fall on the anniversary of Japan's 1931 invasion of northeastern China. It sparked outrage and protests from Chinese nationalists, and a diplomatic row between the two countries.

Following his detention, the Chinese regime cancelled high-level negotiations with Japan on issues like joint development, and severely cut the number of Chinese tourists to Japan.

The Chinese regime also cut exports of rare earth elements to its neighbor, which Japan needs for its high-tech products like hybrid cars, computers and superconductors.

Japanese prosecutors on the island of Ishigaki acknowledged the pressure from the Chinese regime had forced them to release Zhan, in a statement saying (quote) "Considering the effect on the people of our nation and on China-Japan relations, we decided that it was not appropriate to continue the investigation."

Chinese communist officials and state run CCTV greeted Zhan upon his arrival at the airport in Fuzhou.