China is intensifying a campaign of pressure on Japan. In recent days, China has banned more Japanese companies from receiving Chinese exports. It and Russia flew bombers near southwest Japan. It has confirmed that two Japanese businessmen in northeastern China were detained.

中国正在加紧对日本施压。近日，中国禁止更多日本企业获得中国出口的商品，并与俄罗斯一同在日本西南部附近空域出动轰炸机。此外，中方已证实有两名日本商人在中国东北地区被拘留。

The campaign started in November, when Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi of Japan said her country could help defend Taiwan — which China considers part of its territory — in the event of a Chinese invasion. China has since reduced flights and academic exchanges, and continued to ban imports of Japanese seafood.

这场施压行动始于去年11月。当时，日本首相高市早苗表示，一旦中国入侵台湾，日本可能派兵协防——中国将台湾视为其领土的一部分。自那时起，中国减少了民航班次和学术交流，并继续禁止进口日本海鲜。

Now China is using its most powerful weapon: its control over rare earths, which are essential for manufacturing. Analysts say the scale and diversity of the measures is the worst in many years.

如今，中国正在动用其最强大的武器：对制造业至关重要的稀土的控制权。分析人士表示，此次制裁措施的规模和多样性是多年所未见的。

“The approach China is taking is truly comprehensive, and each tactic is interconnected,” said Shin Kawashima, a professor at the department of international relations at the University of Tokyo.

“中国采取的方法确实是全方位的，每种策略都环环相扣，”东京大学国际关系学系教授川岛真表示。

De Facto Ban on Rare Earths Exports

变相禁止稀土出口

China’s commerce ministry announced new controls on Monday that banned dozens of Japanese entities from importing any Chinese items that could have military applications. The entities included the state-run National Institute for Defense Studies and military affiliates of Mitsubishi Electric.

中国商务部周一宣布了新的管制措施，禁止数十家日本实体进口任何可能用于军事用途的中国商品。这些实体包括国家机构防卫研究所以及三菱电机下属的军事企业。

The measure expanded a blacklist, first announced in February, that had targeted 20 Japanese entities. The ministry also added another 20 Japanese companies to an export watch list, subjecting them to more scrutiny.

该举措扩大了今年2月首次公布、针对20家日本实体的黑名单。商务部还将另外20家日本企业列入出口观察名单，对其进行更严格的审查。

5月，在长崎三菱重工业造船厂，被称为海上自卫队的日本海军成员站在的一艘隐身护卫舰前。

For the Japanese companies on China’s export control list, the move amounts to a de facto ban on Chinese rare earths, according to Yoshikiyo Shimamine, a senior fellow at the Dai-ichi Life Research Institute.

第一生命经济研究所高级研究员岛峰义清表示，对于被列入中国出口管制名单的日本企业来说，此举相当于变相禁止了对中国稀土的进口。

The Chinese authorities, he said, “will likely spend a considerable amount of time reviewing whether it’s for military use, effectively reducing rare earth exports to almost zero.”

他指出，中国官方“可能会花费相当长的时间来审查这些物资是否用于军事用途，从而实际上将稀土出口量减至近乎为零”。

Beijing has used this playbook before, in its trade war with the United States. By threatening to throttle the world’s supply of rare earths, Beijing was eventually able to strike a trade deal with Washington to avoid the worst of President Trump’s tariffs.

北京以前在与美国的贸易战中就使用过这种手段。通过威胁要勒紧全球的稀土供应，北京最终得以与华盛顿达成贸易协议，从而避免了特朗普总统最严厉的关税政策。

“The Chinese government perhaps believes that through continuous pressure, Japan may yield. Because China is a major country and with the U.S.-China trade war, Trump has continued to back down,” said Xing Yuqing, an economics professor at the National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies in Tokyo.

“中国政府或许认为，通过持续施压，日本可能会屈服。因为中国是一个大国，而且在中美贸易战中，特朗普一直在退让，”东京政策研究大学院大学经济学教授邢予青表示。

Warnings of ‘New Militarism’

对“新军国主义”的警告

China’s government said it had imposed its latest sanctions in response to Tokyo’s “new militarism.” Beijing has criticized Japan’s decision to revise its laws to allow the export of lethal weapons.

中国政府表示，实施最新制裁是为了回应东京的“新军国主义”。北京方面对日本修改法律以允许出口杀伤性武器的决定提出了批评。

Ms. Takaichi is an outspoken critic of China and has promised to raise Japan’s military spending to 2 percent of gross domestic product. Japan believes that it must modernize its forces to keep up with China’s rising military clout in the region.

经常公开批评中国的高市早苗还承诺将日本的军费开支提高到国内生产总值的2%。日本认为自己必须实现军队现代化，以跟上中国在该地区日益增强的军事影响力。

日本首相高市早苗去年10月抵达韩国，准备与中国国家主席习近平会面。她随后表明日本有意在中国攻击台湾时出兵协防。

Also provocative to Beijing is Japan’s recent military cooperation with the Philippines, including Tokyo’s decision to send decommissioned warships to the Southeast Asian country and participate in joint parachute exercises this month.

日本近期与菲律宾的军事合作同样被北京认为是挑衅之举，包括东京决定向这个东南亚国家赠送退役战舰，并在本月参与联合跳伞演习。

Ships and Jets

舰船与战机

Earlier this month, China’s coast guard patrolled the waters east of Taiwan, where China, Japan and Taiwan all have competing maritime claims. Beijing called it a ”maritime traffic enforcement operation,” in which it inspected vessels in the area.

本月早些时候，中国海警在台湾以东海域进行了巡逻，中国大陆、日本和台湾在该海域均存在主权争议。北京将其称为海上“执法巡查”，并在该海域对船只进行了检查。

Chinese state media suggested that the presence of Chinese vessels there could become routine. China’s foreign ministry said the operation was in response to an announcement by Japan and the Philippines that the two countries would hold talks on their maritime ⁠boundaries, which would likely involve the waters near Taiwan.

中国官方媒体表示中国船只在该地区的存在可能会常态化。中国外交部表示，该行动是对日本和菲律宾宣布将就海上边界举行谈判的回应，这极有可能涉及到台湾附近海域。

“China views each of these steps as a provocation to the reddest of red lines, which is Taiwan,” said William Yang, senior analyst for Northeast Asia at International Crisis Group. “So that’s why we are seeing this series of escalations.”

“中国将这些举措中的每一步都视为对最红的红线——即台湾——的挑衅，”国际危机组织东北亚首席分析师威廉·杨（音）表示。“这就是为什么我们看到这一系列升级举动。”

On Saturday, a joint Chinese-Russian bomber patrol of 15 planes passed over the Sea of Japan, prompting Tokyo to scramble fighter jets to meet them.

周六，由15架飞机组成的中俄轰炸机联合巡逻队飞越日本海，促使东京的战斗机升空进行拦截。

Historical Enmity

历史恩怨

Relations between China and Japan have for decades been prone to flare-ups over territorial disputes and Japan’s brutal World War II occupation, for which Beijing believes Tokyo has never sufficiently apologized.

几十年来，由于领土争端和日本在二战期间的残酷占领，中日关系一直极易爆发冲突，北京认为东京从未就那段历史进行过充分的道歉。

The last time in recent history that relations between the two countries reached such a low point was in 2010, when two Japanese naval vessels collided with a Chinese trawler near uninhabited islands — known as Diaoyu in China and Senkaku in Japan — that Japan controls but China also claims. At the time, Beijing halted rare-earth exports to Japan for only two months.

在近代历史上，两国关系上一次达到如此低谷是在2010年。当时，两艘日本海警船在无人居住的岛屿——中国称钓鱼岛，日本称尖阁诸岛——附近与一艘中国渔船发生碰撞，该岛屿由日本控制，但中国也宣称拥有主权。当时，北京方面仅暂停向日本出口稀土两个月。

In the years since, China surpassed Japan to become the world’s second-largest economy and invested heavily to modernize its military.

在随后的几年里，中国超越日本成为全球第二大经济体，并投入巨资实现军事现代化。

While Tokyo has not retaliated against China’s measures, Ms. Takaichi has also not recanted her comment from November, and is unlikely to do so. The incident may be cover for Beijing to pressure Japan at a time when Tokyo’s most important ally, the United States, is distracted in the Middle East.

尽管东京方面没有对中国的措施进行报复，但高市也没有收回她11月的言论，而且不太可能这样做。这一事件或许为北京提供了一个借口，在东京最重要的盟友美国因中东局势分散注意力之际，对日本施加压力。

“It would seem Beijing prefers antagonizing Tokyo. To what purpose? Perhaps simply to show that it can,” said Sheila A. Smith, a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations.

“北京似乎更倾向于与东京对抗。其目的何在？或许只是为了展示自己有这个能力，”美国对外关系委员会高级研究员希拉·A·史密斯表示。