*派出海监船逼近钓鱼岛

中国昨天派遣两艘海监船驶近日本控制、但存在争议的尖阁诸岛（Senkaku Islands，中国称“钓鱼岛及其附属岛屿”）。官方的新华社表示“中方将采取必要措施维护主权”。

The move came in response to Monday’s announcement by Japan of an agreement with the owner of some of the islands to buy them. While the plan is seen in Japan as a way of cooling tension by preventing the nationalist governor of Tokyo from acquiring the islands, the move has infuriated China, which also claims them.

中方此举是对周一日本宣布与部分岛屿所有者达成购岛协议的回应。尽管该计划在日本被视为一种给紧张局势降温的方式，阻止有民族主义倾向的东京都知事买下相关岛屿，但此举激怒了宣称对这些岛屿拥有主权的中国。

Before deploying the ships, Beijing had announced territorial baselines for the islands. “This kind of administrative act signals an effort to manage the potential for escalation,” said Taylor Fravel, a Chinese security policy expert at MIT. “On the other hand, it could result in more incidents between Chinese and Japanese vessels.”

在部署海监船之前，中国宣布了有争议岛屿的领海基线。“这类行政措施是一个信号，表明官方在控制事件升级的空间，”麻省理工(MIT)中国安全政策专家傅泰林(Taylor Fravel)说，“但另一方面，此举可能导致中日船只之间发生更多冲突。”