Chinese warships have passed for the first time through the narrow strait that divides northern Japan and Russia, Japan’s defence ministry said yesterday.

日本防卫省昨日表示，中国军舰首次穿越日本北部与俄罗斯之间的狭窄海峡。

The five ships, including a guided-missile destroyer, travelled in international waters through the La Pérouse Strait yesterday morning, the ministry said. The vessels appeared to be returning to China after a week-long military exercise with the Russian navy that took place in the Sea of Japan and was seen as a message of defiance directed at Japan and the US.

防卫省表示，包括一艘导弹驱逐舰在内的5艘中国军舰昨日早晨在国际水域穿过拉彼鲁兹海峡（La Pérouse Strait，日本称为宗谷海峡）。这些军舰似乎刚刚结束在日本海举行的中俄海上联合军演，正在返航途中。这场为期一周的军演被视为叫板日本和美国的信号。

Ahead of the exercises, Chinese media quoted Yin Zhuo, a retired admiral who advises Chinese politicians, as saying that such manoeuvres in the Sea of Japan would “have a certain level of threat to Japan, which has a dispute with China over the Diaoyu Islands and one with Russia over the Northern Territories”.

中俄军演之前，中国媒体援引为中国政治领导人提供咨询的海军少将尹卓的话称，考虑到近期俄日在北方四岛、中日在钓鱼岛问题上的争端，中俄双方选择在日本海军演“对日本有一种威慑作用”。

The Chinese ships could have returned home more directly by travelling southwest, back through the Sea of Japan and into the East China Sea. That made their chosen route yesterday – which would take them into the Pacific in a broad swing around Japan – appear all the more provocative.

上述中国军舰本来可用更加直接的航线返航，即向西南折返，从日本海直接回到东海。这意味着它们昨日选定的航线——围着日本在太平洋上绕一个大圈子——更具挑衅色彩。

China and Japan have been embroiled since last year in a tense stand-off in the East China Sea over the Senkaku Islands, known in China as the Diaoyu. Japan administers the uninhabited group, but China and Taiwan both claim sovereignty. Japan also claims islands on the Russian side of the La Pérouse Strait, which were seized by the Soviet Union at the end of the second world war.

自去年以来，中国和日本一直围绕尖阁诸岛(Senkaku Islands)——中国称为钓鱼岛及其附属岛屿——在东海处于紧张对峙状态。日本对这个无人居住的岛群实施管辖，但中国大陆和台湾均宣称拥有其主权。与此同时，日本宣称对拉彼鲁兹海峡俄罗斯管辖的“北方四岛”拥有主权，这些岛屿是在二战结束时被苏联攻占的。

In recent years, China’s navy has been expanding its scope of operations with more frequent and larger exercises in the South China Sea and western Pacific. In June, the US confirmed that China was sending ships and aircraft into its exclusive economic zone, which extends 200 nautical miles from US territory, including Guam.

近年来，中国海军不断扩大活动范围，在南海和西太平洋举行频度越来越高、规模越来越大的演习。就在6月，美国证实，中国曾派遣舰船和飞机进入美国的专属经济区，即距离美国领土（包括关岛）200海里范围内的水域。

Tokyo last week sharpened its criticism of what it says is an increasingly belligerent effort by China to assert territorial claims in disputed Asian waters, with officials saying Beijing was using “force” in a “risky” effort to change maritime boundaries.

日本上周调高了其对中国的批评分贝，认为中国在亚洲有争议海域的行为日趋好战，称北京方面正试图凭借“实力”以“危险”手段来重划海洋边界。

In the first defence white paper issued under conservative prime minister Shinzo Abe, Japan said China had “attempted to change the status quo by force based on its own assertion, which is incompatible with the existing order of international law”.

日本防卫省在保守派首相安倍晋三(Shinzo Abe)任下发表的首份防卫白皮书中表示：“（中国）根据与现行国际法所界定的秩序不相符合的独自主张，试图凭借实力改变现状。”

Last Friday, Hua Chunying, spokesman for the Chinese foreign ministry, said the white paper “maliciously plays up the ‘China threat’”. She added that Japan was trying “to create an excuse for its military build-up”.

中国外交部发言人华春莹上周五表示，日本的防卫白皮书“通过渲染外部威胁来为自己发展军力、摆脱战后国际秩序的束缚制造借口”。