China extended an apology Tuesday to Tokyo after admitting that one of its submarines intruded into Japan's territorial waters off Okinawa last week, an incident it laid to "technical errors," Japanese officials said.
Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Wu Dawei met Tuesday morning with Japanese Ambassador Koreshige Anami in Beijing and apologized for the sub intrusion, Chief Cabinet Secretary Hiroyuki Hosoda told reporters in Tokyo.
According to Hosoda, the vice minister did not give details of the "technical errors," which the minister said took place during "the process of normal training."
The vice minister called the incident "regrettable," a remark Tokyo interprets as an apology, Hosoda said.
The Defense Agency will study if "technical errors" could lead a nuclear-powered submarine into the narrow channel between islands, Hosoda added.
The sub, while running submerged, strayed Nov. 10 into Japanese waters near Ishigaki Island, roughly 400 km southwest of Okinawa Island.
Japan initially refrained from directly blaming China. But on Friday, it started publicly criticizing Beijing and demanded an apology for the intrusion after confirming the sub was heading for Chinese territorial waters in the East China Sea.
The incident came amid bilateral relations that have been strained over a series of issues, and the two countries were having difficulty arranging for a top-level dialogue between their leaders.
Speaking to reporters earlier in the day, Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi expressed hope that a meeting can be arranged between him and Chinese President Hu Jintao later this month on the sidelines of the annual summit of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum in Chile.
Koizumi told reporters that instead of using a diplomatic gripe as a reason for not holding a meeting, "We should hold it because we have a problem."