Japan Press Weekly

Tweet

2009 February 4 - 10 [TERRITORIAL ISSUE]

JCP Vice Chair Ishii says territorial talks with Russia must be based on reason

Japanese Communist Party Vice Chair Ishii Ikuko in a speech at an assembly on the unsolved territorial dispute between Japan and Russia stated, “Japan should demand that Russia return the whole of the Chishima Islands based on the historical facts and international law.”

The assembly was held by 6 local organizations under the auspices of the Cabinet Office to call for the return of the Russian-held “Northern Territories”.

The Japanese government has requested that Russia return just four islands that form part of the southern Chishima islands, not the whole of the Chishima Islands, calling them the “Northern Territories.”

Historically, the peace and friendship treaty between Japan and Russia in 1855 and the Sakhalin-Chishima (Kurile) exchange treaty in 1875 confirmed that the whole of the Chishima Islands are part of Japan.

After Japan’s defeat in WWII, Japan signed the San Francisco Peace Treaty, in which it agreed to renounce its sovereignty over the Chishima Islands and hand them over to the then Soviet Union.

The JCP has insisted that the Japanese government should negotiate with Russia and demand that both northern and southern Chishima Islands be returned to Japan. It also maintains that the Habomai and Shikotan islands historically are part of Hokkaido and should have not have been affected by the San Francisco Treaty, and that they should be returned earlier.

Ishii said, “The Japanese government should take the position of correcting its mistake in the post-war disposition without considering that the clause in the San Francisco Treaty for renouncing the Chishima Islands is absolute.”

Prime Minister Aso Taro as well as representatives of all parties attended the rally.