Putin Keeps Island Dispute With Japan Simmering, Rebuffs Abe Call For Peace Treaty

On Thursday, Russian President Vladimir Putin told Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe that Japan’s military ties to the United States make it difficult for them to sign a World War II peace treaty. So, almost 75 years after the Sept. 2, 1945 surrender of the Japanese to the Allied forces, it appears there are still some “loose ends” remaining to be resolved.

One of the “loose ends” involves a chain of islands that run from the Japanese island of Hokkaido at the south and the Russian Kamchatka Peninsula in the north. They form an island border that separates the Sea of Okhotsk from the Pacific Ocean. Abe was in Vladivostok, Russia, attending an economic forum where he called upon Putin to resolve their differences over the islands that Japan calls the Northern Territories and Russia calls the Southern Kuriles.

In 1956, both countries signed the Soviet–Japanese Joint Declaration. The Declaration technically ended the state of war between the two countries, but it did not settle the dispute over the island chain. The global political stage has also changed. In 1956 the U.S. held the position of strength with a nuclear arsenal that overshadowed the few nuclear warheads that the former USSR held. Anti-Japan sentiment was still strong, and China had yet to emerge as a major power.

Today, Japan and the U.S. are allies, China, now the #2 global power, is involved in a trade war with the U.S. and continues to bully other countries in the waters of the South China Sea. The Soviet Union fell apart in 1991 rendering Russia a weaker, but still powerful force in the world arena. The current relationship between Russia and the U.S. depends upon who you ask and their political leanings.

Moscow has repeatedly raised concerns about U.S. military systems being deployed on Japanese territory even as they continue to build up their military strength on the disputed islands. Putin did say that he had hopes that a peace treaty could be signed and that the two countries could eventually resolve their long-running differences. He added, “Unfortunately, sadly for us, there are military, defense issues, security issues. We have to understand Japan’s commitments to third countries, including the United States….”

Prior to Putin’s comments, Abe praised business ties between Russia and Japan and alluded that a peace treaty was the “historial (obsolete version of historical) mission” of the two countries’ leaders. Abe then added, “Vladimir, let’s do everything together to move forward all the time until we reach (our) objective.”