Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe just paid an official visit to Russia, the first official visit by a Japanese prime minister over the past 10 years.

But this was not the only reason why the trip attracted a lot of attention and caused speculation both in Russia and abroad. Both countries still do not have an official peace treaty, despite briefly fighting at the end of World War II. Moreover, Japan has territorial claims to Russia inherited from those times.

Nevertheless, as a result of the current summit meeting, there are some encouraging signals. Both sides agreed that friendly relations would create good prerequisites for building strategic partnership.

Besides, Abe and Russian President Vladimir Putin admitted that the absence of the peace treaty 67 years later was abnormal, and both leaders agreed that foreign ministries should speed up the talks on searching mutually acceptable variants of the solution.       

How can Russia and other nations benefit from strong and prosperous relations between the two countries? Both sides are interested in stability and security in the Pacific and are ready to make their contribution.

Russia and Japan face such common threats as international and cyber-terrorism. According to Abe, the Russian and Japanese navies have conducted 13 joint rescue exercises since 1998.

Japan needs energy resources, and Russia can satisfy these needs. At the same time, Russia is striving to build innovative economy and Japan possesses the needed technologies.

Abe was accompanied by a group of about 120 Japanese businessmen willing to open or develop business in Russia. Over the past 10 years, the trade turnover has increased eightfold, and the number of Japanese companies working on the Russian market doubled.

Abe stressed to Russian media that he hoped for a new start on long-stuck talks on a peace treaty between our countries, hoping for a boost to mutual relations so that the visit could open long-term opportunities for development.

What implications may the visit have for Russian-Chinese relations? There were some speculations in Japanese media before the visit that Abe should realize discrepancies and take on board the relations between China and Russia in order to use them in the negotiations.

There are some people in Japan who are wary of China and would like to use Russia as a counterweight to China's growing potential thus driving the wedge between Russia and China. These attempts are doomed.

Japan would have to abandon territorial claims to Russia in order to make Russia its ally which is not possible now. Russia and China have had pretty strong and tested cooperation in both political and economic fields. Both nations enjoy strategic partnership status. In 2012, Russian-Japanese trade volume was $32 billion compared to $90 billion of Russian-Chinese trade in the same year.

Obviously, the competition between China and Japan for influence in the Pacific will not diminish, and both nations would like to have Russian leverage. In this context, the Russian mission might be to play the role of balancing power, smoothing contradictions between leading Pacific nations thus maintaining regional security.

Despite the positive background of the visit, one must be realistic and should not expect the Japanese side to drop its territorial claims to Russia in the foreseeable future or Russia to give in over the islands. The territorial dispute resolution is foggy.

There is a postulate in political science that some problems cannot be solved until they are ripe. The willingness to normalize relations is only the first step. Sometimes it takes decades of patience, prudence and hard work for both sides to find a solution.

In order to achieve mutually acceptable results, territorial claims should not overshadow possible areas of Russian-Japanese cooperation. What this visit and further joint work can do is to decrease the acuteness of the territorial dispute and to involve both nations in the mutually beneficial economic, social projects and maintaining regional security.

These issues but not territorial claims should be at the top of the everyday agenda in the two countries' bilateral relations.

There are difficulties and mistrust between Russia and Japan but at the same time there is a huge potential to boost the relations. The "reset" coined for Russian-US relations may be applicable to Russian-Japanese relations as well. The reset could bring benefits to all Pacific countries, including China. 

The author is chair of the Political Science Department at the Diplomatic Academy in Moscow. opinion@globaltimes.com.cn