Japan is seeking US support in the issue of signing a possible peace treaty with Russia, which may serve as a means of countering increasing threat coming from China, a foreign affairs adviser of Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said
TOKYO (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 09th January, 2019) Japan is seeking US support in the issue of signing a possible peace treaty with Russia, which may serve as a means of countering increasing threat coming from China, a foreign affairs adviser of Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said.
"Both Japan and Russia view China as a potential threat ... I would like the United States to understand the importance of concluding a Japan-Russia peace treaty as a means to jointly counter the threat from China," Katsuyuki Kawai said on Tuesday at the Hudson Institute, a Washington think tank, as quoted by the Kyodo news agency.
He also reaffirmed Japan's strong determination to conclude the peace treaty by resolving the territorial dispute with Russia.
Kawai condemned the "expansionist behavior" of China in the East China Sea and South China Sea adding that Japan would not unconditionally support China's Belt and Road Initiative, a massive infrastructural project seeking to boost economic and trade ties between Far East and Europe.
The Russian-Japanese relations have long been complicated by the fact that the two nations never signed a permanent peace treaty after the end of World War II. The deal was never reached because of a disagreement over a group of four islands � Iturup, Kunashir, Shikotan and Habomai � that are claimed by both countries. They are collectively referred to as the Southern Kurils by Russia and the Northern Territories by Japan.
Since Russian President Vladimir Putin's visit to Japan in December 2016, the relations between the two nations have been improving, with the two sides agreeing to develop joint projects on the disputed islands.
