Stories
Slash Boxes
Comments

SoylentNews is people

posted by on Friday December 16 2016, @12:17AM   Printer-friendly
from the final-offer:-20-yen-and-a-bottle-of-sake dept.

As Russian President Vladimir Putin visits Japan this week, one issue on the table is the lack of a peace treaty between the two neighboring nations:

Russia wants to boost bilateral ties with Japan on all fronts and hopes to reach a peace treaty with its eastern neighbor, Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov said on Tuesday, adding however that agreeing a peace treaty needed "scrupulous work." Ushakov was briefing reporters before Russian President Vladimir Putin's visit to Japan later this week.

A territorial dispute between Tokyo and Moscow over a chain of western Pacific islands, seized by Soviet troops at the end of World War Two, has upset diplomatic relations ever since, precluding a formal peace treaty between the two countries.

But don't count on any islands changing hands:

Russia took control of the four islands, northeast of Hokkaido, just days before Japan surrendered in 1945 and has retained control of them ever since. Efforts to resolve the issue in the 1990s led nowhere.

The issue is personal for Abe, whose father served as foreign minister and had tried to get the islands back.

"Abe considers this an infringement of Japan's national sovereignty and can't accept it," said Shigeki Hakamada, who studies Japan-Russian relations at the University of Niigata Prefecture. "I think he has an ambition to make it his legacy by solving the issue."

But Putin has a personal stake in standing fast. He has carefully cultivated an image as the protector of Russian lands, and that has proved beneficial to him — his popularity spiked after Russia's annexation of Crimea and intervention in eastern Ukraine and has floated above 80 percent since then. A May poll by the Levada Center suggested that more than 70 percent of Russians are opposed to any transfer of territory to Japan; 55 percent said Putin's credibility would take a hit if he agreed to hand over any part of the islands.

Also at The Economist and Firstpost (AFP).


Original Submission

 
This discussion has been archived. No new comments can be posted.
Display Options Threshold/Breakthrough Mark All as Read Mark All as Unread
The Fine Print: The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. We are not responsible for them in any way.
  • (Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Friday December 16 2016, @12:59AM

    by Anonymous Coward on Friday December 16 2016, @12:59AM (#441886)

    Nuclear war of attrition is the only possible solution!

    Starting Score:    0  points
    Moderation   -1  
       Troll=1, Total=1
    Extra 'Troll' Modifier   0  

    Total Score:   -1