The Japanese government will continue to pursue a policy aimed at resolving the territorial issue and concluding a peace treaty with Russia.
This was stated by Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida at a plenary session of the lower house of parliament.
“Japanese-Russian relations are in a difficult state due to the situation in Ukraine, but our country will adhere to a policy aimed at solving the territorial problem and concluding a peace treaty,” TASS quoted him as saying.
At the same time, he added that Tokyo would resolutely continue its sanctions policy against Moscow and support for Kyiv.
At the same time, Kishida pointed out that the strengthening of the Japan-US alliance is becoming increasingly important for the prosperity and security of Japan.
Fumio Kishida
AP
© Andres Kudacki
The statement of the Japanese prime minister has already been commented on in Moscow.
According to the press secretary of the President of the Russian Federation Dmitry Peskov, under the current conditions, peace negotiations between Russia and Japan are impossible.
“Certainly, under such conditions, it is not possible to negotiate a peace treaty,” Peskov said.
He added that Japan "staunchly took a place next to a group of unfriendly countries, itself turned into an unfriendly country, in relation to which we are implementing a regime appropriate for unfriendly countries."
Anti-Russian course
Recall that after Moscow launched a special military operation in Ukraine, Japan imposed sanctions against Russia, both against officials and against companies.
In addition, on March 16, the Japanese leadership announced the exclusion of the Russian Federation from the most favored nation in trade.
In parallel, Tokyo provided the Kyiv regime with financial assistance, and began to supply Ukraine with body armor, helmets, civilian vans, small drones and other non-lethal equipment.
These actions were accompanied by rather harsh statements by Japanese officials.
So, on February 28, even before the withdrawal of the Russian Federation from negotiations with Japan, the director of the European Department of the Japanese Foreign Ministry, Hideki Uyama, said that the South Kuril Islands were allegedly "occupied" by Russia.
He also drew a direct parallel between the special military operation of the Russian Federation in Ukraine and the entry of the South Kuriles into Russia.
In response to such actions by Japan, on March 21, 2022, Russia announced its withdrawal from negotiations with Tokyo on the issue of a peace treaty.
“The Russian side under the current conditions does not intend to continue negotiations with Japan on a peace treaty due to the impossibility of discussing the signing of a fundamental document on bilateral relations with a state that takes openly unfriendly positions and seeks to harm the interests of our country,” the Russian Foreign Ministry said at the time.
In addition, the Russian Federation announced its withdrawal from the “dialogue with Japan on establishing joint economic activities in the South Kuriles” and the termination of visa-free trips of Japanese citizens to the islands, which were carried out in accordance with the agreements of 1991 and 1999.
“The entire responsibility for the damage to bilateral cooperation and the interests of Japan itself lies with official Tokyo, which deliberately opted for an anti-Russian course instead of developing mutually beneficial cooperation and good neighborliness,” the Russian Foreign Ministry concluded.
"Generally recognized results of the Second World War"
According to experts, after the end of World War II, a peace treaty was never concluded between Moscow and Tokyo.
The main obstacle to signing the agreement was Japan's position on the issue of the southern part of the Kuriles.
As a result of World War II, the entire archipelago was included in the USSR, but Tokyo disputes Moscow's right to the islands of Iturup, Kunashir, Shikotan and the Habomai archipelago, referring to the Shimoda Treaty, signed by Russia in 1855.
Moscow has repeatedly pointed out that the sovereignty of the Russian Federation over these territories has an international legal form and is beyond doubt.
Negotiations between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe at the WEF, 2019
RIA News
© Grigory Sysoev
The return of the Kuril Islands and the southern part of Sakhalin to the USSR was a condition for the country's entry into the war against Japan, which was requested by the Allies.
The document, which secured the rights of the Soviet Union to these territories, was signed at the Yalta Conference in February 1945.
In accordance with it, these islands returned to the USSR after Japan officially surrendered on September 2 of the same year.
As noted earlier in the Russian Foreign Ministry, "the belonging of the South Kuril Islands to the Russian Federation is based on the generally recognized results of the Second World War and the unshakable post-war international legal basis, including the UN Charter."
However, Japan does not agree with this.
So, in March 2022, Japanese Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi called the Russian South Kuril Islands "originally Japanese" territories, to which Tokyo's alleged "sovereignty" applies.
"Japan is making things worse for itself"
According to experts, Kishida's statements about the peace treaty are related to the fact that Tokyo still has "hope to resume negotiations" with Moscow in the future.
“The Japanese have hope that the rejection of these negotiations is not forever.
They believe that time will pass and it will be possible to resume contacts, ”said Valery Kistanov, head of the Center for Japanese Studies at the Institute of the Far East of the Russian Academy of Sciences, in an interview with RT.
In turn, orientalist, RUDN University professor Yuri Tavrovsky points to the apparent duality in Tokyo's foreign policy.
“Japan needs to defend its national interests, which lie in the fact that it is necessary to maintain normal relations with the great neighboring country Russia, even outside the context of the peace agreement.
At the same time, the anti-Russian orientation of their policy is intensifying, since Tokyo must follow the United States, ”the expert said in an interview with RT.
View of the Mendeleev volcano and the village of Yuzhno-Kurilsk on the island of Kunashir
RIA News
© Vladimir Mikhailov
Analysts note that peace talks between the Russian Federation and Japan lasted more than half a century and progressed with extreme difficulty because of Tokyo's position.
Now, when the Japanese have imposed sanctions against Russia, there can be no talk of resolving the territorial issue and signing a peace agreement.
“Japan has joined the anti-Russian campaign of Western countries, primarily the so-called G7, where it is included.
Japan has begun to take very tough measures in this regard: in the economic sphere, in the political sphere, and various kinds of sanctions.
Now our relations are actually at zero... In such conditions, in resolving the territorial issue, there are clearly no favorable prospects for Japan, ”said Valery Kistanov.
At the same time, as Yuri Tavrovsky noted, Russia, for its part, "did not give any reasons for the deterioration of relations with Japan."
“The Japanese government made a mistake.
The ruling party is forced to go in the wake of American policy, clearly to the detriment of its national interests.
But Japan is not a sovereign country.
This has been demonstrated many times, both politically and economically.
So in relations with Russia, Japan harms itself, ”said the specialist in a conversation with RT.
In his opinion, under these conditions, Russia did the right thing by stopping negotiations with Japan.
“We have a strong position, and we can afford not to protect our long-term national interests.
Moscow understands that under the current Prime Minister Kishida, Japan is completely dependent on itself, so it is necessary to negotiate at this stage not with them at all, but with the United States.
And there is no point in wasting time and energy on some skirmishes with Tokyo, ”the analyst concludes.