A Shanghai maritime court has issued the release of a Japanese ship earlier seized by China after the ship's owner settled its obligation by paying US $28.5 million on Thursday, state media said.

The ship, BaoSteel Emotion, was allowed to sail after it settled the delayed rent and other obligations it owed to a Chinese firm dating back to the 1930s.

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The vessel was seized Saturday at a port in Zhejiang Province after the Shanghai Municipal Higher People's Court issued a verdict in 2010, upholding the 2007 ruling of the maritime court, which ordered the ship owner, Mitsui O.S.K Lines, to pay its obligations.

The Japanese shipping company was charged in court in 1998 for not paying rents on two ships it leased from the Chinese company. The Chinese firm also asked the court for compensation due to economic losses as a result of the delayed rental, which dates back more than 80 years ago.

In a statement released on Thursday morning, the maritime court in Shanghai said the Japanese shipping company has fulfilled its financial obligations and paid the entire amount of US $28.5 million in delayed rent and losses.

Mitsui O.S.K Lines also paid around US $390,000 in court fees and other charges.

The seizure of the vessel last Saturday was immediately considered by critics as part of the ongoing territorial dispute between China and Japan.

However, China's Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang said in a press conference that the issue was solely for delayed rent and losses and had nothing to do with the dispute. It was not even related to wartime compensation, he added.

The verdict, Qin said, was carried out upon the request of the plaintiff. It was a commercial lawsuit and had nothing to do with any other issues, the ministry spokesman clarified.