The USA Supports Japanese Territory Claim

The disagreement between Moscow and Tokyo surrounding the southern Kuril Islands is gaining momentum. The other day yet another Japanese politician, this time Chief Cabinet Seceretary Yukio Edano, carried out his usual ritual, overlooking “the northern territories” from the air. “If only the voice of the Japanese people cried out louder, the islands would be much closer to us,” he lamented.*

The Japanese national geopolitical pastime has not escaped the attention of those at Smolenskaya Square. “After the flight, Mr. Edano advocated a calm and meaningful dialogue about the problem of the international agreement. Such an announcement would be welcomed, if it were not for the subsequent arguments,” noted some in the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs.

Russia announced that it is building up its military forces in the southern Kuril Islands. The equipment reinforcement of the military forces there was ordered by President Dmitry Medvedev. He has said that Moscow will take all necessary measures for a strategic position in the region. And the announcement from the General Staff concerning the deployment of the anti-aircraft missile system S-400 “Triumph” in the Russian Far East has indeed caused tremors in the Land of the Rising Sun.

In the debate over the Kurils the U.S. has openly supported its Japanese friends, thus effectively advocating for revision of the outcome of World War II. “In reality there is nothing new in Americans’ announcements,” explained Sergei Rogov, the director of the Institute for U.S. and Canada Studies to Izvestia. “To this day, they have always taken the same position, as they did in 1951 when the Soviet Union declined to sign the San Francisco Peace Treaty with Japan. This was a very serious mistake of Stalin’s. Already for 60 years the United States has asserted that [Russian] control of the four southern Kuril Islands has no legal justification.”

But this argument, which the Japanese have stubbornly clung to, is not supported by international critics. “Tokyo insists that the USSR has not acquired the rights to the Southern Kuril Islands, since it has not signed the treaty. It is not indicated to whom would be granted the ceded Japanese territories such as the Kuril Islands and the southern part of Sakhalin,” points out Vice President of the Russian International Law Association Oleg Khlestov. “At the same time, the San Francisco Treaty also does not indicate to whom the other Japanese ceded territories would be transferred. Hence the conclusion: Whether the USSR signed the treaty or not does not matter. It is a genuine international law document, and the Japanese should abide by it.”

After surviving the nuclear bombing by the Americans, Japan today is securely covered by their “nuclear umbrella.” “The unsinkable aircraft carrier of the U.S.,” as the Land of the Rising Sun is sometimes called, has since the time of the Cold War acted as an outpost of the American military presence in Southeast Asia. At the same time, Washington is trying to forget that during the Yalta Conference, it was the Americans themselves that turned to the USSR with a request to join the war with Japan. Already by August 8, 1945, the Soviet Union had fulfilled its obligation and had in two weeks brought a devastating defeat to the Kwantung Army in Manchuria. After this the capitulation of Japan became possible, and Moscow received the Southern Kurils — the right of the victor of the Second World War and in accordance with international agreements.

*Editor’s note: All quotations contained herein, although accurately translated, could not be independently verified.