Video footage of a ship collision between Japan's coastguard and a Chinese trawler two months ago has been leaked online, threatening to further strain Tokyo-Beijing ties, media reports said Friday.

The two Asian giants have been embroiled in their worst spat in years over the incident in early September near a disputed island chain in the East China Sea, which led Japan to arrest the skipper and detain him for several weeks.

China called the arrest invalid and illegal and reacted with a series of protests and other diplomatic countermeasures.

Video footage of the collisions, taken by Japan's coastguard, has been shown to Japan's Prime Minister Naoto Kan and some Japanese lawmakers but not made available to the wider public for fear of inflaming the dispute.

But Japan's Jiji Press and other media reported early Friday that the footage had been found uploaded on the free video-sharing site YouTube. The video was divided into six parts and totalled 44 minutes, Jiji said.

The Sankei daily in an online report quoted an unnamed Japanese coastguard officer as saying: "It's probably real footage."

The news came as Asia's two biggest economies have been seeking to repair ties after their prime ministers, Kan and Wen Jiabao, have failed at two recent summits in Brussels and Hanoi to hold formal bilateral talks.

Tokyo and Beijing have sought to end the feud during which nationalist rallies have been held in both countries.

Kyodo News reported that Japan's top government spokesman Yoshito Sengoku and visiting former Chinese State Councillor Tang Jiaxuan agreed Thursday to make efforts to improve ties.

earlier related report
Cuban leader, NKorean general hail 'excellent' relations
Havana (AFP) Nov 4, 2010 - Cuban President Raul Castro and top North Korean military official Ri Yong Ho hailed their countries' close bilateral ties, after holding meetings in Havana, official media here reported Thursday.

The meeting, held in Havana's Palace of the Revolution, underscored the "excellent state of bilateral relations" and the "historic ties of friendship" that unite the two countries, according to the statement in the daily Granma government newspaper.

Vice-Marshal Ri, a general who is chief of staff of the North Korean Popular Army, arrived in Cuba Monday for a "dialogue dealing with current international issues."

The newspaper said top Cuban military leaders also attended the meeting.

Ri is quoted in the article as singling out the strong military cooperation between the two countries, which he said form a "common anti-Yankee front" against the United States.