Japanese Prime Minister Wants To Hold Meeting With Russian Leadership - Reports

Japanese Prime Minister Wants to Hold Meeting With Russian Leadership - Reports

Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida wants to hold a meeting with high-ranking Russian officials as soon as possible to move forward on a post-war peace treaty between the countries, Kyodo News Agency reported on Wednesday, citing Japanese lawmaker Muneo Suzuki

TOKYO (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 12th January, 2022) Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida wants to hold a meeting with high-ranking Russian officials as soon as possible to move forward on a post-war peace treaty between the countries, Kyodo news Agency reported on Wednesday, citing Japanese lawmaker Muneo Suzuki.

According to the media, Kishida told Suzuki that it is impossible to establish a relationship of trust between the two nations without personal diplomacy.

Suzuki is known for his support for the signing of a peace treaty with Russia and developing bilateral relations with Moscow. He formerly consulted former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, under whom bilateral ties were developed intensively.

Relations between Russia and Japan have been marred for many years by the absence of a peace treaty.

In 1956, the Soviet Union and Japan signed a joint declaration in which Moscow agreed to consider the possibility of transferring the Habomai and Shikotan islands to Japan after the conclusion of a peace treaty. The fate of Kunashir and Iturup was not addressed in the document. The Soviet Union hoped the Joint Declaration would put an end to the dispute, while Japan considered it only as part of the solution to the problem, and did not renounce its claims to all the islands.

Subsequent negotiations did not result in a peace treaty. Serious opposition arose from the United States, which threatened that if Japan agreed to the transfer of only two of the four islands, the move would affect the process of returning Okinawa to Japanese sovereignty.

In 2018, Japan and Russia agreed to speed up negotiations on the peace treaty on the basis of the 1956 Japanese-Soviet Joint Declaration. Observers believe the step represented a serious concession on the part of Japan, since its official position was the demand for a return of the four islands before the possible conclusion of a peace treaty.