TOKYO, January 20. /TASS/. Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has got down to address the issue of a peace treaty to be signed with Russia in case of Russia’s providing guarantees of handing over some of the South Kuril Islands, namely Shikotan and a number of uninhibited small islands Japan calls Habomai, Kyodo said on Sunday citing government sources.
According to Kyodo, the plan is to commit to paper possible transference of Shikotan and the Habomai islands to Japan. However, the change of ownership of two other islands - Iturup and Kunashir - looks unrealistic at this point, according to the Abe administration.
The Japanese side believes that if it keeps on demanding Russia hand over Shikotan, Iturup, Kunashir and the Habomai islands, it will drive the peace treaty talks into a dead end. Nevertheless, it claims there are all the grounds to hand over two of these islands and it could be done on the basis of the Joint Declaration of 1956. But since this plan may provoke criticism in Japan as it envisages a waiver of territorial claims for Iturup and Kunashir, Prime Minister Abe will keep a close eye on public opinion on that matter.
The Japanese prime minister is pessimistic about a third option that was previously looked at, namely handing over of Shikotan and the Habomai islands with the subsequent continuation of talks on the two remaining islands.
On January 21, Abe is expected to pay an official visit to Russia for talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin. A week prior to the visit, Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Kono held talks with Russia’s top diplomat, Sergey Lavrov, in Moscow. After the talks, Lavrov said Moscow is not going to discuss its sovereignty over southern Kuril Islands. Two days later, Lavrov pointed that Japan’s territorial claims run counter to the country’s liabilities under the United Nations Charter, which says that the outcome of World War II is not subject to review.
At a meeting in Singapore in November 2018, Russian President Vladimir Putin and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe agreed to invigorate the peace treaty talks on the basis on the 1956 declaration on ceasing the state of war.
Since the mid-20th century, Russia and Japan have been negotiating a peace treaty after World War II. The main stumbling block to this is the issue of the ownership of the southern Kuril Islands. After the end of World War II, all Kuril Islands were incorporated into the Soviet Union. However, Japan challenged the ownership of Iturup, Kunashir, Shikotan islands and a number of uninhibited islands of the Lesser Kuril Ridge called the Habomai Islands in Japan.
In 1956, the Soviet Union and Japan signed a joint declaration on ceasing the state of war. The two countries resumed diplomatic and other relations, however no peace treaty has been signed until now. The Soviet Union committed to paper in the declaration its readiness to hand over Shikotan, Habomai and a number of uninhibited small islands to Japan as a gesture of good will after the peace treaty is ultimately signed. The declaration was ratified by the two countries’ parliaments on December 8, 1956.
However following Japan’s signing a security treaty with the United States in 1960, the former Soviet Union revoked its liabilities concerning the transference of islands. The Soviet government said back then that the islands would be handed over to Japan only when all foreign forces were withdrawn from its territory.