While growing tensions on the high seas have been the main focus in recent territorial tensions between China and Japan, a report released by the Defense Ministry shows prickliness is escalating in the skies as well.

　　虽然公海上日益紧张的关系成为近来中日两国间领土争端的主要焦点，但日本防卫省（Ministry of Defense）最近发布的一份报告显示，两国在空中的紧张关系也正在升级。

　　Japan’s Air Self-Defense Force has scrambled 83 times in the first half of the year to check out military aircraft from China buzzing Japan’s air space, according to the Defense Ministry’s Joint Staff Council on Thursday, more than triple the amount compared to the same six-month period in 2010.

　　日本防卫省统合幕僚监部（Joint Staff Council）上周四说，今年上半年日本航空自卫队（Air Self-Defense Force）紧急出动83次以应对可能侵犯日本领空的中国军机。这一数字是2010年同期的三倍多。

　　It’s another reminder of how fraught Japan-China relations have become over a disputed archipelago in the East China Sea, called Senkaku in Japan and Diaoyu in China. Japanese intercepts of Chinese planes occurred a total 96 times in the whole of last year, and just once in the first half of 2008.

　　 Agence France-Presse/Getty Images这再一次提醒我们，在中国东海存在争议的尖阁列岛（中国称钓鱼岛）问题上，日中关系变得令人非常担忧。去年全年日本拦截中国飞机的次数为96次，而在2008年上半年只有一次。

　　While the Joint Staff Council said none of the Chinese aircraft entered Japanese air space, a Chinese Y-8 skirted the border on Sept. 8. The aircraft came within 150 kilometers of airspace north of the disputed islands. Japanese pilots were scrambled again two weeks later when another Chinese plane headed for the same slice of the sky, but did not venture as close as the previous incident.

　　尽管统合幕僚监部说没有中国飞机进入日本领空，但今年9月8日，中国一架运-8飞机在日本领空边缘飞行。这架飞机在钓鱼岛以北150公里内的空域飞行。两周后，当另一架中国飞机朝同一片空域飞行时，日本飞行员再次紧急出动，但没像上次那样冒险靠近中国飞机。

　　Japanese jets scrambled 203 times overall from April to September. About 106 of those occasions concerned intercepts related to Russian aircraft in the north, with which Japan is engaged in another long-running territorial dispute. But scrambles connected to Russia declined 29% compared to the same period the previous year.

　　今年4月至9月，日本军机共计紧急出动203次。其中约有106次针对的是北面的俄罗斯战机。日本和俄罗斯长期以来存在领土争端。但和前一年同期相比，针对俄罗斯战机的紧急出动次数下降了29%。

　　As airborne tensions grow, Japan has also stepped up its marine capacity with regard to Senkaku. The Japan Coast Guard added another boat to its patrol fleet earlier this month amid increased sightings of Chinese boats and research trawlers over the last year. A controversial crash between a Chinese fishing boat and two Japanese patrol boats in September of 2010 sparked a war of words between the neighbors, putting the island chain on the forefront of bilateral concerns.

　　随着空中紧张局势加剧，日本也加强了其处理钓鱼岛问题的海上能力。在过去一年发现的中国船只和拖网渔船数量不断增加的情况下，日本海上保安厅（Japan Coast Guard）本月初为巡逻舰队增加了一艘舰船。2010年9月一艘中国渔船和两艘日本巡逻艇发生的备受争议的碰撞事件引发中日两个邻国的口水战，令钓鱼岛问题成为双方关注的焦点。