Territorial problem should not wreck RF-Japan relations - FM.

30/12 Tass 115

MOSCOW, December 30 (Itar-Tass) - Russian Deputy Foreign Minister
Alexei Borodavkin said the territorial problem should not upset the
development of relations between Russia and Japan.
Speaking at a press conference at the Itar-Tass news agency on
Thursday, Borodavkin said, "We maintain a very intensive dialogue with
Japan. We will be glad to accept the Japanese foreign minister in Moscow
in February. Our leaders also maintain a very intensive dialogue."
"Both parties seek to develop political, economic and humanitarian
relations," Borodavkin stressed.
"But our countries have territorial disputes. Both Russia and Japan
recognise this problem. However, it should not wreck the dynamic
development of relations between our states. If we achieve impressive
results in economic and foreign political relations, the territorial
problem should be solved far easier," the Russian diplomat said.
The leaders of Russia and Japan have made attempts to modify the tone
of reciprocal reproaches at their meeting in Yokohama.
Recently Tokyo has protested against Russian President Dmitry
Medvedev's visit to the disputed Kuril isles. In reply, Russian Foreign
Minister Sergei Lavrov said, "Japan's reaction is unacceptable. It is our
land. The Russian president visited Russian lands."
Lavrov said, "President Medvedev decides himself what regions of the
Russian Federation he will visit."
At the same time, the Russian foreign minister said the positions had
remained unchanged. "As the prime minister expressed regret for Dmitry
Medvedev's visit to Kunashir Island, the president confirmed our position:
the president takes decisions himself what region he will visit," Lavrov
told journalists.
"This is our territory and this will be so in the future. I hope that
Japanese colleagues will take an adequate position," the Russian minister
added.
In his words, during the meeting, Medvedev called on the Japanese
prime minister to change the approach towards a peace treaty, which should
be signed by the two countries.
"The president noted that it was better to give up emotional
statements and diplomatic gestures because they do not help the business,
but to the contrary," he said.
"The president offered to change the approach towards a peace treaty,
which should be signed by the two countries, and to prioritise the
economy," Lavrov said. "The broader economic cooperation is, the more
solid the foundations of the relations are," the minister added.
The foreign ministers of the two countries, Sergei Lavrov and Seiji
Maehara, also met in Yokohama to discuss the territorial dispute. During
the meeting, the Japanese minister refrained from using such words as
"illegal occupation" of South Kuril Islands and "Japan's territories".
"During the meeting, the parties did not put forth any proposals on
South Kuril Islands. But they exchanged views in a serious and sincere
atmosphere. The parties revealed their positions on the territorial
problem," a Russian official said.
Lavrov and Maehara agreed that the development of cooperation "will
meet the strategic interests that is why it is necessary to seek closer
cooperation in the political, economic, cultural and international fields
in order to strengthen the dialogue on the territorial issue".
Commenting on Medvedev's recent trip to South Kuril Islands, the
official said both ministers had reiterated their positions. They stressed
that it "is necessary to build relationship in a calm atmosphere and on
the basis of mutual understanding".
To this end, Lavrov and Maehara agreed to discuss the Japanese foreign
minister's possible trip to Russia next year.
The Kuril Islands dispute, also known as the Northern Territories
dispute, is a dispute between Russian and Japan over sovereingty over the
South Kuril Islands.
The disputed islands, which were occupied by Soviet forces during the
Manchurian Strategic Offensive Operation at the end of World War II, are
under Russian administration as South Kuril District of the Sakhalin
region, but are claimed by Japan, which refers to them as the Northern
Territories, being part of the Nemuro Subprefecture of Hokkaido Prefecture
of.
The San Francisco Peace Treaty between the Allied Powers and Japan
from 1951 states that Japan must give up all claims to the Kuril
islands,but it also does not recognize the Soviet Union's sovereignty over
the Kuril Islands.
Russia maintains that the Soviet Union's sovereignty over the islands
was recognized following agreements at the end of the Second World War.
However, Japan has disputed this claim.
The positions of the two sides have not substantially changed since
the 1956 Joint Declaration, and a permanent peace treaty between Japan and
Russia still has not been concluded.
On July 7, 2005, the European Parliament issued an official statement
recommending the return of the territories in dispute, which Russia
immediately protested.
As late as 2006, Russia's Vladimir Putin administration offered Japan
the return of Shikotan and the Habomais (about 6 percent of the disputed
area) if Japan would renounce its claims to the other two islands,
referring to the Soviet-Japanese Joint Declaration of 1956 which promised
Shikotan and the Habomais would be ceded to Japan once a peace treaty was
signed.
Japan has offered substantial financial aid to the Kuril Islands if
they are handed over. However, by 2007, residents of the islands were
starting to benefit from economic growth and improved living standards,
arising in particular from expansion in the fish processing industry. As a
result, it is thought that islanders are less likely to be won over by
Japanese offers of financial support.
On February 6, 2008 Japan Today, an English-language news site in
Japan, reported that the Russian president had suggested to Japanese Prime
Minister Yasuo Fukuda to finally settle all territorial disputes over the
Kuril Islands and had sent him a letter inviting him to come to Russia for
discussions.
The dispute over the Kuril Islands was further exacerbated on July 16,
2008 when the Japanese government published new school textbook guidelines
directing teachers to say that Japan has sovereignty over the Kuril
Islands. The Russian Foreign Ministry announced on July 18: "[these
actions] contribute neither to the development of positive cooperation
between the two countries, nor to the settlement of the dispute" and
reaffirmed its sovereignty over the islands.
-0-yur