The new leader of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party in Japan, Yoshihide Suga, spoke on the issue of the ownership of the four islands of the Kuril ridge, which the Japanese side calls "northern territories."

The politician stressed that he plans to continue the course started by his predecessor Shinzo Abe.

“With regard to the issue of the“ northern territories ”, I intend to continue the dialogue (with Russia. -

RT

) in order to clarify the issue of the ownership of the four islands,” Yoshihide Suga said during a press conference.

In addition, the new leader of the ruling party noted that outgoing prime minister Shinzo Abe was able to develop a relationship of trust with Russian leader Vladimir Putin.

  • Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga, former Defense Minister Shigeru Ishiba and former Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida, September 14, 2020.

  • Reuters

  • © Eugene Hoshiko / Pool

We will remind, on August 28, Shinzo Abe, head of the Japanese government since 2012, announced that he was forced to leave the post for health reasons.

“Since I can no longer live up to the mandate given to me by the people, I decided that I should not remain in the post of prime minister,” Abe said at the time.

On September 14, the ruling Liberal Democratic Party of Japan elected its new leader, who should soon lead the country's government.

It was the 71-year-old politician Yoshihide Suga, who received 377 out of 535 votes from his party members, defeating two rivals - the former LDP Secretary General Ishiba Shigeru and the current head of the party's political council Kishida Fumio.

At the time of his nomination for the post of party leader and prime minister, Suga himself served as secretary general of the Cabinet.

On September 16, the Japanese parliament will appoint a new prime minister by vote.

Experts have no doubts that it will be Suga, since the coalition led by the LDP controls both chambers of parliament.

“Of course, Suga will become the prime minister of Japan, since he has the majority of the votes in the ruling party.

Therefore, his approval as head of government will become a simple formality, "Alexander Panov, head of the MGIMO Department of Diplomacy, explained in an interview with RT.

Yoshihide Sugi's political career began in the late 1980s, when he was elected to the Yokohama City Legislature.

The politician entered the national parliament in 1996 from the LDP.

Yoshihide Suga took the post in the government of Shinzo Abe in 2006.

The Cabinet of Ministers did not work for long - already in 2007, Abe resigned.

However, after Abe returned to the post of prime minister in 2012, Suga took over the post of secretary general of the new government, which he held unchanged until recently.

Territorial claims

According to experts, Yoshihide Suga will continue the course of his predecessor in a number of important areas.

Including, on the issue of the so-called "northern territories" - the Russian islands of Iturup, Kunashir, Shikotan and Habomai, which Tokyo claims.

It is with these territorial claims that the ruling party of Japan links the issue of signing a peace treaty with Russia.

Recall that Moscow's rights to these islands of the Kuril ridge were secured following the results of World War II, in the Yalta Agreement of 1945.

By signing the Act of Unconditional Surrender in September 1945, Japan accepted the terms of the Potsdam Declaration, which implied the transfer of the islands to the Soviet Union.

  • The signing of the Japanese surrender act aboard the battleship Missouri (September 2, 1945)

  • RIA News

  • © Victor Temin

At the same time, the peace treaty following the Second World War between Japan and the USSR was never signed.

In 1951, the Japanese authorities signed the San Francisco Peace Treaty.

The document confirmed the loss of the rights to the Kuril Islands by the Japanese side.

However, Moscow did not sign this agreement, since it remained an open question in whose favor Japan was abandoning the islands.

An important milestone in Japanese-Russian relations was the signing of a declaration in 1956, in which the parties expressed their readiness to sign a peace treaty on the terms of the division of the islands - Japan could withdraw from Hamobai and Shikotan.

However, after Japan signed a treaty in 1960 giving the United States the right to use military bases on its territory, implementation of the 1956 declaration stalled.

Discussion on the signing of a peace treaty between Russia and Japan intensified during Shinzo Abe’s tenure as Prime Minister of Japan.

Speaking at a September 2018 meeting of the Eastern Economic Forum, Russian President Vladimir Putin proposed a peace treaty without preconditions.

“So, we have been negotiating for 70 years.

Shinzo said, let's change our approach.

Let's.

Let's conclude a peace treaty, well, not now, but before the end of the year.

Without any preconditions.

And then, on the basis of a peace treaty, as friends, we will continue to resolve all controversial issues.

It would make it easier for us to solve all problems, ”Putin said.

However, Tokyo did not agree with this option - the Japanese side put forward a proposal to intensify negotiations on the territorial issue on the basis of the 1956 Joint Declaration.

The question is quantity

At the same time, experts are confident that no matter what the diplomatic rhetoric will be, Tokyo will invariably pursue the goal of joining the four Kuril Islands to Japan.

The historical justification for these claims is the Simoda Treaty of 1855, which has expired, according to which the Russian Empire ceded the Kuril Islands to Japan in exchange for trade preferences.

The day of the signing of this document is celebrated in Japan as the "Day of the Northern Territories" - the holiday is designed to demonstrate the country's commitment to the idea of ​​returning to its membership of the Kuril Islands.

  • Abramov Bay of Urup Island (island of the southern group of the Great ridge of the Kuril Islands)

  • RIA News

  • © Ekaterina Aristarkhova

As Valery Kistanov, head of the Center for Japanese Studies at the Institute for Far Eastern Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences, noted in a commentary to RT, speaking of a return to the 1956 declaration, Shinzo Abe was not going to limit Tokyo's claims to only two islands.

“This is a misconception, Abe did not plan to give up his claims to all four islands.

And now Suga will continue this course, he has already made it clear that he is ready to raise the issue of all four islands.

And the 1956 declaration has always been viewed by Japan as the first step towards obtaining the four islands.

So, with his today's statement, Suga dotted all the i's, precisely marked the position, "the expert explained.

As Kistanov explained, these ideas enjoy support in Japanese society, since the authorities are constantly conducting extensive propaganda work in this direction.

“Most Japanese believe that the USSR took the islands away from Japan illegally, and Russia should return them.

This is public opinion, it was created purposefully by politicians and the media, ”the expert added.

According to the expert, the approval of Yoshihide Sugi for the post of prime minister may result in some toughening of Tokyo's rhetoric on the issue of the peace treaty and the islands.

“Shinzo Abe avoided posing the question the way Suga did - talking about the four islands at once.

Although this is the official position of the state, Abe used more streamlined formulations, ”the expert shared his observations.

Peaceful prospects

In turn, Alexander Panov believes that the territorial claims of Japan are now a secondary issue.

“The territorial claims of the Japanese authorities did not prevent Moscow and Tokyo from improving and strengthening relations during the premiership of Shinzo Abe.

During this period, Russia's relations with Japan became better than with any other G7 country.

For example, Japan, unlike Western countries, is ready to provide loans to Russia - earlier the Japanese side provided a loan for the development of gas fields in Yamal.

Tokyo's territorial claims did not stop the countries from developing relations.

It can be assumed that under the new prime minister, this line will be continued, ”the expert said.

However, experts doubt that Japan and Russia will be able to sign a peace treaty in the foreseeable future.

  • Hanging the Russian flag at the INTEX Osaka international exhibition center before the opening of the G20 summit in Osaka, Japan

  • RIA News

  • © Ilya Pitalev

“There are always chances for this, it depends on many circumstances: on the political will of the leaders, on how relations will develop, how the situation in the world and the public mood in either country will influence it.

This is a complex set of issues that must be resolved before a peace treaty can be concluded, ”explained Alexander Popov.

Valery Kistanov adheres to a similar point of view.

“Shinzo Abe has made the signing of a peace treaty with Russia one of his main foreign policy priorities.

He failed to achieve this, and he undoubtedly would like to see the successor continue this business.

However, the positions of Moscow and Tokyo are too different for the parties to be able to sign a peace treaty in the near future if they wanted to.

Probably, this will take more than one year, and maybe even a decade, ”the expert summed up.