Putin offers peace treaty with Japan

Long-standing dispute between neighbors centers on four islands

VLADIVOSTOK, Russia - Russian President Vladimir Putin turned to Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on a conference stage on Wednesday and offered to sign a peace deal to end a decades-old territorial dispute by the end of the year.

"An idea has just come into my head," Putin said to Abe during a question-and-answer session at an economic forum in the Russian city of Vladivostok.

"Let's conclude a peace treaty before the end of this year, without any preconditions."

Abe did not respond during the session.

The dispute between Russia and Japan centers on the four islands in the Kuril chain which the Soviet Union occupied at the end of World War II in 1945 but are claimed by Japan.

As a result the two have still not formally ended their World War II hostilities and the standoff has held back economic ties between the near-neighbors.

It has also kept the two countries from signing a peace accord.

Later in the same session, Putin said of his offer: "I was not joking." He said his idea was that the two sides sign a treaty first, and then work through the issues on which they are in dispute afterward.

Establishing its sovereignty over the islands is the crucial issue for Tokyo, so it would be unlikely to sign a deal without first receiving some assurances from Moscow over the fate of the islands.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Japanese officials had not communicated any response in private immediately after the session, Russia's TASS news agency reported.

Both Moscow and Tokyo claim sovereignty over the islands, known in Russia as the Kurile islands and in Japan as the Northern Territories.

Lying near the Japanese island of Hokkaido, the territory was taken over by Red Army troops in the final days of World War II. When the conflict ended, the Soviet Union kept control, and Russia continues to control the islands to this day.

War legacy

Both Abe and Putin have said they want a solution to the dispute. The Japanese leader has said a deal would unlock trade and investment from Japanese companies for Russia, which is now sanctioned by the West.

But on Monday, Putin had seemed to pour cold water on suggestions that the dispute could be solved soon.

"It would be naive to think that it can be solved quickly," Putin said after meeting Abe on the sidelines of the forum.

Earlier, Putin said security in the region was a key issue and that Russia was concerned by a move to establish a US missile defense system there.

Japan decided last year it would expand its ballistic missile defense system with US-made ground-based Aegis radar stations and interceptors.

"This is all the subject of negotiations. ... We have been negotiating for 70 years," Putin said.

"Shinzo said let's change approaches. OK," Putin said, before proposing they sign the peace treaty.

Reuters - Afp - Ap

(China Daily 09/13/2018 page12)