After months of much tension and little dialogue, Japan and China are edging gingerly toward repairing diplomatic relations, seeking ways to contain the fallout from a territorial row, even without any clear sign of how to resolve it.

数月来日本和中国的关系一直十分紧张，并且双方鲜有对话。现在这两个国家正在谨慎地朝着修复外交关系这个方向努力，寻找办法控制领土争端所带来的影响，尽管还没有出现任何有关如何解决这一问题的明确迹象。

Tokyo's highest-ranking career diplomat traveled to Beijing on Monday for two days of talks to 'exchange opinions on a broad range of issues' with Chinese officials, Japan's chief government spokesman announced. It's the first time for the foreign ministry's top official to meet with Chinese counterparts since October, and the first such exchange since new, hard-line leaders have taken power in both countries.

日本首席政府发言人说，日本最高级别的职业外交官周一抵达北京，进行为期两天的访问，他将与中国官员就广泛问题交换意见。这是去年10月份以来日本外务省最高官员首次与中方会面，同时也是两国自新一届强硬派领导人上台以来首次进行这种交流。

'It's significant, as the first real sign that they're going to try and engage,' said Sheila Smith, a Japan expert at the Council on Foreign Relations in Washington, who recently completed a visit to both Asian countries. 'They've started the process of a formal diplomatic discussion of what should be the framework for the two leaders to talk about reconciliation.'

外交关系协会(Council on Foreign Relations)驻华盛顿的日本问题专家史密斯(Sheila Smith)说，这是一个具有重要意义的事件，是首个显示中日两国将尝试和参与解决双边关系问题的真正迹象。她说，两国启动了正式外交磋商的程序，将讨论双方领导人应当在什么样的框架下讨论和解问题。史密斯最近刚结束对这两个国家的访问。

But she added, 'we're at rudimentary first steps,' noting 'limited political latitude on both sides' in an intractable dispute over a group of uninhabited islands in the East China Sea controlled by Japan but also claimed by China.

但她说，目前双方讨论尚处在初期阶段，两国针对东中国海(East China Sea，中国称东海)一个无人居住岛屿群存在棘手的领土争端，双方在这个政治问题上的宽容度均有限。这些争议岛屿由日本掌控，但中国也宣称对这些岛屿拥有主权。

Diplomatic exchanges between the two countries dried up last fall, after the Japanese government nationalized the islands, called Senkakus in Japan and Diaoyu in China. Chinese leaders refused to meet their Japanese counterparts at multinational summits where they both appeared. China refused to send its central bank governor and finance minister to the annual meeting of the International Monetary Fund in Tokyo last October.

在日本政府将这些争议岛屿（日本称尖阁诸岛(Senkakus)，中国称钓鱼岛）国有化后，去年秋季中日两国外交往来中断。中国领导人在两国领导人同时出席的一些多边峰会上拒绝与日方会面。中国曾拒绝派遣央行行长和财政部长参加去年10月份在东京举行的国际货币基金组织(International Monetary Fund)年度会议。

Military tensions rose as China regularly sent boats into the waters around the islands, and Japan accused the Chinese ships of the provocative act of locking weapons-guidance radar on Japanese military targets.

由于中国经常派遣船只进入争议岛屿附近水域，两国军事紧张关系随之升温。日方曾指责中国舰只用火控雷达锁定日本军事目标的挑衅行为。

Ties frayed further after the hawkish Shinzo Abe was elected prime minister in December, vowing a tougher line against China. A few days before parliamentary elections in late July, Mr. Abe made an unusual campaign stop near the disputed waters, vowing: 'We have absolutely no intention to retreat, even by an inch.' Chinese President Xi Jinping, who took office in March, has similarly pledged to defend China's claims to the islands.

去年12月鹰派的安倍晋三(Shinzo Abe)当选日本首相，誓言对中国采取更强硬的立场，之后中日关系变得更加紧张。7月底议会选举之前几天，安倍晋三在中日争议海域附近进行了一次不同寻常的选战活动，誓言绝对无意退缩，一英寸都不退。同样的，今年3月上任的中国国家主席习近平也承诺将捍卫中国对争议岛屿的主权。

But since Mr. Abe's party won a landslide in the July 21 vote, both sides have toned down their rhetoric a bit. The Japanese leader vowed after the election to keep his focus on economic policy, a pledge that earned rare praise from China's state news agency, Xinhua. 'Compared with Abe's nationalist rhetoric, which not only infuriated Japan's neighbors but also worried the world, his focus now on the Japanese economy is a reasonable stand,' Xinhua said in a July 23 commentary.

但自安倍晋三所在的政党在7月21日的议会选举中获得压倒性的胜利以来，中日双方的言论都出现了一些缓和。安倍晋三在议会选举后誓言将专注于经济政策，这一承诺赢得了中国国有通讯社新华社难得的赞扬。新华社在7月23日的一篇评论文章中说：安倍晋三的民族主义言论不仅激怒了日本的邻国，也令全世界感到担忧，相比这样的言论，他如今对日本经济的关注是一种合理的立场。

On Monday, Mr. Abe told reporters he hoped 'to promote unconditional, frank dialogue between the foreign ministers and leaders' of the two countries.

安倍晋三周一对记者说，他希望促进中日两国外长和领导人之间无条件的坦诚对话。

The visit to Beijing this week by vice foreign minister Akitaka Saiki was reported in the Chinese media without commentary. The foreign ministry issued no immediate comment. Mr. Saiki's visit follows recent trips by other Abe envoys with less formal positions.

中国媒体报道了日本外务事务次官斋木昭隆(Akitaka Saiki)本周访问北京的消息，但没有发表评论文章。中国外交部没有立即发表公开评论。在斋木昭隆访华之前，安倍晋三内阁另外几名官方职务比斋木昭隆低的特使最近也曾访问中国。

'This visit is an attempt to pave the way for the Japanese prime minister or the foreign minister to meet with Chinese leaders,' said Liu Jiangyong, the deputy dean of Tsinghua University's Institute of Modern International Relations in China.

清华大学国际问题研究所副所长刘江永说，此行意在为日本首相或外相与中国领导人举行会晤铺平道路。

In a telephone interview Monday, Mr. Liu said talks would go nowhere unless sovereignty of the islands is on the table. 'I think China and Japan need to talk about Diaoyu Island's sovereignty and historical evidence each side holds,' he said.

刘江永周一接受电话采访时说，除非争议岛屿主权问题拿到谈判桌上来谈，否则谈判不会有任何结果。他说：我认为中国和日本需要讨论钓鱼岛主权问题和各方持有的历史证据。

Mr. Abe and other Japanese officials have rejected such a precondition.

安倍晋三和其他日本官员一直拒绝预设这样的前提条件。