Japan Retreats With Release of Chinese Boat Captain

日本退却，释放中国船长

A diplomatic showdown between Japan and China  that began two weeks ago with the arrest of the captain of a Chinese trawler near disputed islands ended Friday when Tokyo accepted Beijing’s demands for his immediate release, a concession that appeared to mark a humiliating retreat in a Pacific test of wills.

日中两国两周的外交斗争以周五日本释放在争端海域逮捕的中国渔船船长告终。东京接受了中方立即放人的要求，这个让步似乎标志着日本在太平洋地区意志考验中屈辱的退却。

Japan freed the captain, Zhan Qixiong, 41, who left Saturday on a chartered flight sent by the Chinese government to take him home. Mr. Zhan had been held by the Japanese authorities since his boat collided with Japanese patrol vessels on Sept. 7 near uninhabited islands in the East China Sea, and Japan had insisted that he would be prosecuted.

His release handed a significant victory to Chinese leaders, who have ratcheted up the pressure on Japan with verbal threats and economic sanctions.

日方放人为中国领导人带来了重大胜利。他们通过口头威胁和经济制裁向日方不断施压。

“It certainly appears that Japan gave in,” said Hiroshi Nakanishi, a professor of international relations at Kyoto University. “This is going to raise questions about why Japan pushed the issue in the first place, if it couldn’t follow through with meeting China’s challenges.”

“当然看起来是日本屈服了”，京都大学国际关系教授 Hiroshi Nakanishi说。“那么问题出来了：如果日本不能经受中国的后继挑战，为什么一开始要挑起争端呢？”

The climb down was the latest indicator of the shifting balance of power in Asia. China this year surpassed Japan as the world’s second largest economy and had already become Japan’s biggest export market. Japan, mired in extended political uncertainty and economic malaise, has had a succession of weak prime ministers who have struggled to assert its interests in a region focused mainly on a resurgent China.