Locked on

摘要

Armed conflict between Japan and Chi-na over the five tiny, uninhabited Sen-kaku or Diaoyu islands still seems improbable. But that does not make it impossible. This week it was revealed just how close their standoff has come to a shoot-out. On February 5th the Japanese government claimed that six days earlier a Chinese warship had beamed "fire-control" radar at a destroyer belonging to Japan's Maritime Self-Defence Force some 3 kilometres (2 miles) away-a step towards shooting a missile at it.