日少将任军演副指挥 日本军事影响力强化

When the U.S. led a 25,000-troop, 22-nation maritime exercise in Hawaii this summer, a Japanese naval commander served as second in command. It was the highest rank ever given a Japanese officer in the four decades since the drill was launched, and a symbol of how Tokyo is steadily expanding its military clout as the U.S. leans more on its leading regional ally to counter China's rise.

今年夏天，美国在夏威夷海域主导了一场有2.5万人参加的22国联合海上军演，日本海军少将任副指挥官。这是该演习40多年来日本军官担任的最高职位。在美国为牵制中国崛起而愈发依赖日本这个亚太主要盟友之际，这也是东京稳步扩大其军事影响力的标志。

'We don't have any enemy─officially speaking that is,' Rear Adm. Fumiyuki Kitagawa said when asked the focus of five-week campaign, dubbed Rimpac, for Rim of the Pacific. He then laughed out loud.

在被问到为期五周的环太平洋军演的重点时，日本海军少将北川文之(Fumiyuki Kitagawa)说，我们没有任何敌人，从官方立场上来说是这样的。说完后他哈哈大笑。

While six nations joined the exercise for the first time this year, making it the largest ever, China wasn't among them. 'China wasn't invited,' Adm. Kitagawa said in his first interview with the foreign press.

有六个国家今年第一次参加了环太平洋军演，这也使得该演习的规模创下历史之最，但中国却不在其列。北川文之第一次接受外国媒体采访时说，没有邀请中国参加。

Adm. Kitagawa's ascendance comes as the U.S. shifts its defense posture toward Asia. The rapid growth of China's military prowess is viewed with fear and suspicion by its neighbors, and its territorial ambitions are increasingly causing frictions. That, combined with fiscal restraints in the U.S., is pushing the Pentagon to seek bigger contributions from its key regional allies, from Australia to Singapore.

北川文之在联合军演中任高位的背景是，美国正在调整防御姿态，将战略重心转移至亚洲。很多邻国以担心和怀疑的态度来看待中国军事实力的快速增长，而且中国的领土主张也正在引发越来越多的摩擦。再加上美国财政紧缩，这些都迫使五角大楼寻求从澳大利亚和新加坡等关键亚太盟国那里获得更多的支持。

Expanding Japan's role is perhaps most important for Washington, as Adm. Kitagawa's Maritime Self Defense Force is the third largest navy in the Asian-Pacific region after the U.S. and China, with 143 ships totaling 451,000 tons, according to this year's Defense White Paper of Japan.

扩大日本的作用对华盛顿来说也许十分重要。北川文之所在的日本海上自卫队(Maritime Self Defense Force)是亚太地区仅次于美中两国的第三大海军部队。据日本今年发布的《防卫白皮书》(Defense White Paper)介绍，日本海上自卫队共有舰船143艘，吨位总计达45.1万吨。

But political constraints─in Japan and around the region─also make it more difficult for Japan's military to take on a bigger mission. Japan's post-war pacifist constitution bans its engagement in acts of war except in self-defense, and nations around the region remain wary of re-arming Japan's military to protect them.

但是，日本国内以及亚太地区的政治约束让日本自卫队承担更重要任务的难度增大。日本战后颁布的和平宪法规定，除自卫外，日本不得参与战争。另外，亚太地区国家对于让日本重新武装军队来保护各国的想法仍持谨慎态度。

Driven in part by lingering hostilities over Japan's brutal occupation, South Korea, in particular, has rebuffed military overtures by Tokyo, scrapping plans earlier this year for a joint intelligence-sharing pact. This month, as tensions rose between Seoul and Tokyo over a longtime territorial spat, South Korea suspended a military-exchange program. Inside Japan, grass-roots opposition to the U.S. military presence has strained bilateral security ties, and slowed American plans to realign its bases and deploy state of the art equipment.

特别是在韩国，民众对于遭日本野蛮占领的敌意挥之不去。受此影响，韩国政府回绝了东京方面的军事提议，并在今年早些时候取消了制定韩日情报共享协议的计划。鉴于首尔与东京因长期领土争端而关系紧张，韩国本月暂停了一项两国军事交流计划。在日本国内，反对美国驻军的民间声音一直令日美安全关系承压，同时也放缓了美国调整驻日军事基地和部署最先进装备的计划。

Moreover, Beijing is wary of the increasing strategic engagement of the U.S. in the region.

而且，北京对于美国增加在亚太地区战略接触一事也表示警惕。

Still, prodded by the U.S., Japan's forces have increased their presence overseas in recent years, taking part in peacekeeping operations and providing support functions, such as the refueling of coalition ships during the Iraq war.

尽管如此，日本近年来仍在美国的推动下，通过参与维和行动、提供必要支持等方式扩大了在海外的军事影响力，比如在伊拉克战争期间为多国部队舰船补给燃料。

In April, Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda promised President Barack Obama that Tokyo would expand its role in regional security. The two nations are considering building a permanent joint exercise facility on American-controlled Pacific islands around Guam. In September, troops from Japan's Ground Self Defense Force will join U.S. Marines on Guam and nearby Tinian Island to conduct their first joint drills for defending remote islands, a strategy Japan recently began emphasizing amid escalating island tensions with China.

日本首相野田佳彦(Yoshihiko Noda)今年4月曾向美国总统奥巴马(Barack Obama)承诺，将扩大东京在地区安全事务中的作用。日美两国目前正考虑在关岛周围美国控制的太平洋岛屿上建立永久性联合军演设施。日本陆上自卫队(Ground Self Defense Force)将于今年9月和驻守关岛及附近天宁岛(Tinian Island)的美国海军陆战队一起举行首次联合军演，保卫偏远岛屿。随着日中岛屿之争引发的紧张局势不断升级，日本近来开始强调这一战略。

The 52-year-old Adm. Kitagawa has been at the forefront of Japan's growing engagement with the U.S. In November, he was aboard the aircraft carrier USS George Washington, working side by side with his U.S. counterparts, as he commanded a Japanese fleet in a bilateral exercise in the waters near Okinawa. Soon after Japan's nuclear disaster in March last year, Adm. Kitagawa was at a U.S. base near Tokyo, advising U.S. naval officers as they prepared barges filled with fresh water for cooling overheating reactors. There, the barges were handed over to the MSDF and then carried up the coast to Fukushima.

现年52岁的北川文之一直走在日本深化与美国安全合作的前沿。去年11月，他曾登上美国乔治·华盛顿号核动力航空母舰(USS George Washington)，在日本冲绳县附近海域举行的双边军演中与美国同事并肩协作。他负责指挥日本舰队。去年3月日本核灾难爆发后不久，北川文之便出现在东京附近的一个美国军事基地，向正在准备驳船的美国海军提出建议。这些驳船满载冷却过热反应堆的淡水。驳船在这个基地交给日本海上自卫队，然后由日方负责开到福岛。

And as part of the Rimpac exercise from June 27 to Aug. 7, Adm. Kitagawa helped command naval officers from countries that Japan had occupied or invaded during World War II, including South Korea, Malaysia, the Philippines, and Indonesia.

环太平洋军演从6月27日持续到8月7日，作为演习的一部分，北川文之协助指挥来自二战期间日本占领或侵略过的国家的海军官兵，这些国家包括韩国、马来西亚、菲律宾和印度尼西亚。

At Rimpac, Adm. Kitagawa was the second-ranking member of its joint leadership group, advising and assisting the commander, Vice Admiral Gerald Beaman of the San Diego-based U.S. Third Fleet. Australia and Canadian officers commanded maritime and air components of the exercise, the first time non-U.S. officers were given such tasks.

在环太平洋军演中，北川文之是联合领导小组的二号人物，为驻圣迭戈的美国第三舰队副海军中将、环太平洋军演的总指挥官比曼(Gerald Beaman)担任顾问和助手。澳大利亚和加拿大军官负责指挥演习中的海上和空中部分，这是非美国军官首次被委以此类任务。

'Having non-U.S. officers such as Rear Adm. Kitagawa lead functional components helps provide realistic, relevant training that increases participants' abilities to plan, communicate and conduct complex maritime operations,' says Charlie Brown, a commander in charge of public affairs for the Third Fleet.

第三舰队负责公共事务的中校布朗(Charlie Brown)说，让海军少将北川文之等非美国军官担任一些功能组成部分的领导，有助于提供有实际意义和目的明确的训练，这些训练能提高参与者规划、沟通和执行复杂海上行动的能力。

Born in 1960, 15 years after Japan's surrender the war, Adm. Kitagawa is part of a generation of Japanese leaders raised after the devastation and humiliation of Japan's wartime defeat. He grew up in Gifu, a mountainous area in central Japan. He chose to attend the National Defense Academy where tuition was free, in part because his family's small factory was struggling at that time. His weak eyesight made his childhood dream of becoming an air force pilot out of reach, and the army's rifle-carrying training seemed too strenuous. 'That left me with the MSDF,' he said, chuckling.

北川文之生于日本投降后的第15年──1960年，属于在日本战败的打击和屈辱中成长的那一代人。他在日本中部的山区歧阜长大。后来，他选择进入免学费的日本防卫大学校 (National Defense Academy of Japan)，部分原因是当时他家的小工厂经营惨淡。由于视力不太好，他没能实现童年时成为空军飞行员的梦想，而陆军每天扛着步枪的训练又似乎太艰苦。他笑着说，我只能去海上自卫队了。

Like other elite officers, Adm. Kitagawa alternated between duties on the sea and desk work at the defense ministry as he climbed the military ladder. In 1999, he was given his first command of a destroyer. Three years later, he was sent to the Japanese Embassy in Australia as a defense liaison, where he polished his skills in English.

像其他杰出的军官一样，北川文之在防卫省的工作需要在海上执勤和办公室之间转换，在这一过程中他的军衔也不断上升。1999年，他第一次获得了指挥驱逐舰的机会。三年后，他被派到日本驻澳大利亚大使馆，担任防务联络官的职务，他的英语水平在这段时间得到了提高。

He rose to become one of the MSDF's roughly 50 rear admirals in 2010, and currently commands 'Escort Flotilla Three,' one of the four regional divisions that make up the MSDF's vessel fleet.

2010年他被提拔为海上自卫队的约50名海军少将之一，目前指挥着“第三护卫队群，这是组成日本海上自卫队舰队的四个地区分队之一。

Adm. Kitagawa's flotilla, based in the Sea of Japan port of Maizuru, is home to eight destroyers, and regularly joins in patrols of the East China Sea.

北川文之的舰队驻扎在日本舞鹤港海域，拥有八艘驱逐舰，定期参与东中国海的巡逻任务。

In his role, Adm. Kitagawa is, like much of Japan's military, warily eyeing the growing might of China.

像大多数日本军人一样，作为海军少将，北川文之对中国军事实力的增长保持着警惕。

The MSDF now has two to three ships constantly present in some parts of the East China Sea, he says, and its P-3C surveillance planes make a daily round of the entire East China Sea. Four to five years ago, ships were sent in only for emergencies.

他说，日本海上自卫队现在派出两至三艘船频繁地出现在东中国海的一些海域，P-3C侦察机每天在整个东中国海上空盘旋。四五年前，只有出现紧急情况才会向东中国海派船。

'It's our mission to ensure the security of Japan's territorial waters and exclusive economic zones─in that context, we keep an eye out for Chinese ships, and foreign ships in general, in the East China Sea,' he said. 'Ships from the fleet under my command also participate in such activities as part of the roster. Increasing activities of Chinese vessels is something that comes up in our conversations every day. '

他说，我们的任务就是保证日本领海和专属经济区的安全，在这方面，我们将留意所有的中国船只和外国船只，他说，我指挥的舰队船只作为执勤船只的一部分也参与了这类行动，中国船只活动的日益增多是我们每天讨论的话题。

But Adm. Kitagawa's role also reflects the constraints on Japan's military. Tokyo is currently caught in a flare-up of a territorial dispute over a group of craggy islands known as Senkaku in Japan. The islands are controlled by Japan but claimed by China and Taiwan; their Chinese name is Diaoyu.

但是北川文之少将的角色也反映了日本军方受到的限制。东京目前陷入了围绕一组多岩石岛屿的领土争端中。这些岛屿目前由日本控制，但中国大陆和台湾都宣称对这些岛屿拥有主权。日本将这些岛屿称作尖阁列岛(Senkaku)，中国大陆和台湾称之为钓鱼岛。

MSDF's expanded presence has no direct link to the recent resurgence of the spat, Adm. Kitagawa stressed, adding that ensuring the safety of the waters around the Japan-controlled islets is the responsibility of Japan's civilian Coast Guard and Fishery Agency.

北川文之强调说，日本海上自卫队扩大行动范围与最近的领土争议的升温没有直接关系。他补充说，确保日本控制的岛屿周围海域的安全是民用的日本海上保安厅和水产厅的责任。

'If the MSDF gets involved, or shows up on the front line, it will only add to the tensions,' he said.

他说，如果日本海上自卫队参与领土争端，或是冲在前面，只会让局势更加紧张。