THREE Japanese who intruded into a Chinese military zone without authorization were released yesterday morning after admitting they violated Chinese law and showing regret for their mistake.

But Sada Takahashi, one of the four Japanese nationals under house arrest for illegally videotaping military targets, is still being held for investigation.

State security authorities in Shijiazhuang, capital of the northern Hebei Province, said on September 23 that the four Japanese nationals were held for investigation after authorities received a report about their illegal activities.

Asia's two biggest economies have been in a bitter feud since Japan detained a Chinese fishing boat captain whose trawler collided last month with two Japan Coast Guard ships near China's Diaoyu Islands in the East China Sea.

Japanese prosecutors released the captain late last week, but both sides have demanded compensation over the collision.

Japan's Foreign Minister Seiji Maehara confirmed the trio's release, and said Tokyo was seeking an "early resolution" to the continued detention of Takahashi.

The four detained are employees of Fujita Corp, a Tokyo-based construction and urban redevelopment company, which said the men were working to prepare a bid for a project to dispose of chemical weapons abandoned in China by the Japanese military at the end of World War II.

• yesterday [´jestədi] n.&ad.昨天；前不久 (初中英语单词)
• arrest [ə´rest] vt.逮捕 n.逮捕；停止 (初中英语单词)
• investigation [in,vesti´geiʃən] n.调查(研究) (初中英语单词)
• security [si´kjuəriti] n.安全；证券；抵押品 (初中英语单词)
• province [´prɔvins] n.省；领域；范围 (初中英语单词)
• minister [´ministə] n.部长；大臣 v.伺候 (初中英语单词)
• release [ri´li:s] vt&n.释放；放松；赦免 (初中英语单词)
• construction [kən´strʌkʃən] n.建设；修建；结构 (初中英语单词)
• working [´wə:kiŋ] a.工人的；劳动的 (初中英语单词)
• project [prə´dʒekt, ´prɔdʒekt] v.设计；投掷 n.计划 (初中英语单词)
• dispose [di´spəuz] v.处置；安排；布置 (初中英语单词)
• chemical [´kemikəl] a.化学的 n.化学制品 (初中英语单词)
• compensation [,kɔmpen´seiʃən] n.补偿，赔偿 (高中英语单词)
• fishing [´fiʃiŋ] n.钓鱼；捕鱼；渔业 (英语四级单词)
• illegal [i´li:gəl] a.不合法的，非法的 (英语六级单词)
• collision [kə´liʒən] n.碰幢；冲突；互撞事件 (英语六级单词)
• abandoned [ə´bændənd] a.被抛弃的；无约束的 (英语六级单词)