The Japanese ”review” of the disputed Kuril Islands, known as the Northern Territories in Japan, won’t help enhance the good atmosphere that was building up with Russia, the Russian foreign ministry said in a statement on Saturday.
The ministry said Japanese Foreign Minister Koichiro Gemba’s visit was intended to ”highlight the well-known position of Tokyo on sovereignty” over the islands, a source of a territorial dispute between Tokyo and Moscow since the end of World War II.
”The Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs has paid attention to the so-called ‘inspection’ of the South Kuril Islands by Gemba on Saturday from a Japan Coast Guard ship that was sailing in Japanese territorial waters,” the statement said, according to Russua’s RIA Novosti News Agency.
”We would like to know if this move was intended to emphasize the importance of mutually beneficial cooperation between border areas of Russia and Japan and thereby give an extra impulse to the sustained development of Russian-Japanese ties,” the statement reads.
Jiang Yi, a deputy director of Russian studies at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, told the Global Times that Moscow is actually extricating both Tokyo and itself from awkward positions.
”It is Gemba’s first visit to the South Kurils since he took office in September and he is obviously reiterating Japan’s claim to the islands. However, the Kremlin doesn’t want to make the atmosphere too tense, as the two countries’ foreign ministers will meet at the end of this month,” Jiang said. ”Russia has the determination to build all-round cooperation with Japan, but would not be willing to compromise. It is the same with Japan.”
Neither of them would go to the extreme over this issue, as a result, the relationship always stays tepid, he added.
At a news conference on Saturday, Gemba said he will push for substantive talks on the territorial issue with his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov, who is expected to visit Japan, probably on January 28, according to Japan’s NHK television station.
Gemba made the remark while speaking to representatives of former residents of the islands in Nemuro City, Hokkaido.
Former islanders demand Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda visit the islands to express his determination to resolve the territorial issue.
Gemba promised to enter into talks with Russia as soon as possible and negotiate tenaciously. He said he hopes to have substantive discussions based on agreements and documents signed with Moscow, and also based on the principles of law and justice, NHK reported.
Global Times - Agencies