The Wall Street Journal Sept 20, 2010
【导读】 如果说有哪块土地是最能牵动中日神经的，那就非钓鱼岛莫属了。这块总面积只有 6 平方公里的土地在 2010 年又一次成为中日争端的导火索。
China suspended high-level government exchanges with Japan, significantly escalating the two countries’ worst dispute in five years, after Japanese authorities extended the detention of the captain of a Chinese fishing boat detained near disputed islands in the East China Sea.①

Beijing also threatened‘strong countermeasures’following Japan’s decision, which could provoke fresh nationalist protests across China this week and potentially damage commercial relations between the world ’s second- and third-largest economies.②

China and Japan have frequently *ed over the unpopulated islands, known as the Diaoyu in China, and the Senkaku in Japan, whose waters are thought to contain substantial natural-gas reserves, but this year’s row has graver implications for both-and the U.S.-as China is rapidly acquiring the naval power to enforce its claims.③

It is being closely watched by many other Asian countries-including India, Vietnam and the Philippines-which have territorial disputes with China, and which have concerns about China’s expanding naval power.

The decision was all the more provocative in China’s eyes as it followed small demonstrations outside Japanese diplomatic missions in several Chinese cities on Saturday-the anniversary of Japan’s invasion of China in 1931.④

China responded on Sunday by suspending ministerial and provincial-level bilateral exchanges, halting talks on increasing flights between the two countries and postponing a meeting about coal, according to China’s state-run Xinhua news agency.

在日本官方延押从从中国东海争议岛屿附近扣留的渔船上的船长后，中国暂停与日本高级别*之间往来，大大加深了五年来两国最大争端。
对日本的决定，北京也表示采取强烈反制措施，此举可能于本周在中国各地激起新的国家*，并且可能破坏世界第二和第三大经济体之间的商业联系。
中国和日本经常在这块无人岛上产生冲突，中国称钓鱼岛，日本称尖阁列岛，据说海水中含有大量天然气资源，但今年的冲突对中日以及美国有更深的含义——中国正快速依靠海军巩固主权。
亚洲其它国家密切关注，包括印度，越南和菲律宾这些和中国有领土争议的国家，也对中国扩张的海军力量有所担忧。
这一决定在中国人眼里是挑衅，此前在周六（1931年日本侵华纪念日）的中国好几个城市的日本领事馆外举行了小型游行。
中国周日通过官方媒体新华社作为回应，中国宣布暂停两国省部级以上交往，中止双方有关增加航班的会谈，推迟就煤炭问题的会见等。