Why Japan Changed Its Stance on Disputed Islands with Russia

Kunashir Island, South Kuril Bay. Photo: AP

Earlier, Kyodo news agency reported that Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is considering the possibility of signing a peace treaty with Russia if an agreement is reached to transfer the Shikotan and Habomai islands to Japan.

"Japan's position was expressed in early November last year regarding the settlement of the peace treaty issue on the basis of the 1956 declaration, which only mentioned the transfer of these two islands from Japan. In this sense, Mr. Abe maintained a consistent position by confirming what was announced at the G-20 Summit in Singapore," Streltsov recalled.

However, according to him, Tokyo has always maintained its stance that the transfer of the two islands is only an intermediate step on the way to resolving this issue, and in the future Japan must firmly propose continuing territorial negotiations with Russia to thoroughly resolve the issue related to the remaining two islands, Kunashir and Iturup.

This expert commented: "At present, as I understand it, Mr. Abe does not set such a goal, because the Japanese leader realizes that transferring the two islands of Kunashir and Iturup to Japan is an unrealistic action. On this issue, Japan's position has changed towards greater compromise with Russia. Perhaps this is the essence of the statement Mr. Abe made. The level of Japan's readiness to give up its demands for the two islands is currently an unanswered question."

For decades, Russia and Japan have been trying to conclude a peace treaty after World War II. The main obstacle to this is the sovereignty dispute over the archipelago of four islands, which Russia calls Iturup, Kunashir, Khabomai and Shicotan, and Japan calls Etorofu, Kunashiri, Habomai and Shikotan.

The territorial dispute has seriously affected bilateral diplomatic and trade relations. Recently, both countries have shown goodwill to resolve the dispute by promoting joint economic activities on the archipelago.