Case Study
The Kurile Islands Dispute
Case Number: 8
Case Identifier: KURILE
Case Name: Kurile Islands Dispute
CASE BACKGROUND
ENVIRONMENT ASPECT
CONFLICT ASPECT
ENVIRONMENT OVERLAP CONFLICT ASPECT
RELATED INFORMATION
I. CASE BACKGROUND
1. Abstract
More
than fifty years have passed since the end of World War II, and no peace
treaty has been concluded between Japan and the former Soviet Union. The
reason for this delay is the unresolved Northern Territory issue. In the
aftermath of World War II, Japan lost those islands, the Kuriles to Russia.
Russia clings to its territory in the rich fishing grounds of the North
Pacific, defying, Japan, which wants the southern Kuriles, the islands
of Habomai, Shikotan, Etorofu and Kunashir back. It is considered that
the territorial dispute is both political and economic issue. On the other
hand, the inhabitants on the islands just wish their hard lives to get
easier, especially after the Cold War, due to economic difficulties without
much help from the Russian government.
2. Description
1) History
Japan
and Russia have a long and contentious history in the Kurile Islands. Cossack
trappers in search of fur seal and sea otter came from the north in the
1700s, even as Japan's powerful Matsumae clan was trying to subjugate the
native people in the southern Kuril islands. These people, who came to
be called, Ainu are of mysterious origins, but they may have migrated from
northeast Asia thousands of years ago, settling as far as south as Hokkaido.
Scholars have advocated various theories about the origin of Ainu people.
The theories include the Caucasoid (Caucasian) theory, the Mongoloid theory,
the Oceanis Race theory, the Old Asian Race theory and others. However,
there is no precisely proven and believed theory about the Ainu. No Ainu
live in the Kuriles today, but about 24,000 Japanese report Ainu ancestry.
Ainu who lived in Hokkaido, the Kurile Islands
and Sakhalin were called "Hokkaido Ainu," "Kurile Ainu" and "Sakhalin Ainu"
respectively. The Ainu people regarded things useful to them or beyond
their control as the result of "kamuy" or god. In daily life, they prayed
to and performed various ceremonies for the gods. These gods are considered
to include "nature" gods, such as of fire, water, wind and thunder; "animal"
gods, such as of bears, foxes, spotted owls and so on. Gods which protect
houses, gods of mountains and lakes are also worshiped by Ainu people.
Japan and Russia first established diplomatic
relations in 1855. In that same year, the Treaty of Commerce, Navigation
and Delimitation (the Shimoda Treaty,) which provides for an agreement
on national boundaries, between the two was established. Article two of
the treaty states a Japanese-Russian border shall lie between the islands
of Iturup (Etorofu) and Urup. The whole of Etorofu shall belong to Japan,
and the Kurile Islands lying to the north of and including Urup, shall
belong to Russia. With regard to Sakhalin Island, rather than establishing
a boundary, historical precedent was continued. This treaty between Japan
and Russia, reportedly, was concluded after peaceful negotiations and took
into account all activities of the two nations in the vicinity of the Sakhalin
and Kurile Islands prior to the time of the treaty's conclusion. Commodore
Putyatin, a Russian representative to the negotiations reportedly stated
at the time of treaty signing that it had been proven that Etorofu island
could be a point of future conflict with Japan. This is conclusion was
the result of a careful and precise survey, conducted in an effort to avoid
future conflict. According to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan,
a document was recently made public in Russia, which demonstrates that
Czar Nicholas I recognized that the Urup island was the southernmost boundary
of Russian territory.
Two erroneous claims were made regarding this
treaty. One of these claims was that Japan forced this treaty on Russia,
knowing that Russia was at that time in difficulty because of the Crimean
War. This is completely contrary to the facts. At the time, Russia was
a major power in Europe, whereas Japan was still a weak, feudal nation,
being pressured by the United States, England and Russia to abandon its
300 -year-old isolationist policy. The second claim was that while the
treaty acknowledged Etorofu, Kunashir, Shikotan and Habomai Islands to
be Japanese territories, Russia could still claim historical rights to
them as a result of having first discovered and explored them. However,
these islands, which are so close to Japan that they can be seen with the
naked eye from Hokkaido, hardly seem to require any claim of discovery.
In fact, even in "Shoho Okuni Ezu," a map published in Japan in the first
half of the seventeenth century, Kunashir and Etorofu Islands are clearly
indicated as part of Japan.
The 1855 Treaty of Commerce, Navigation and Delimitation
left Sakhalin Island as a mixed settlement for Japanese and Russian nationals.
In order to resolve the complications arising from these ambiguities, negotiations
aimed at a division of the island between the two nations were conducted
during the 1870s. In these negotiations, Japan called for a division of
the island at the fiftieth parallel of north latitude. But, Russia called
for a division at the forty eighth parallel. Neither side could come to
terms. By concluding the 1875 Treaty for the Exchange of Sakhalin for the
Kurile Islands, Japan and Russia agreed that Japan would hand over title
to the Sakhalin Island to Russia. Then, in return, Russia would hand over
the Kurile Islands, the eighteen islands from Urup to Shimushu, to Japan.
The peaceful negotiations resulted in the Kurile Islands becoming Japanese
territory and Sakhalin Island becoming Russian territory.
However, tensions persisted, and in 1904, war
broke out. Japan and Russia went to war over Manchuria and other regional
interests. As a result of this war, the Portsmouth Peace Treaty was concluded,
by which the southern half of Sakhalin Island was ceded by Russia to Japan
upon its victory. Although there had been varied developments regarding
the territorial delimitation, between Japan and Russia, Etorofu, Kunashir,
Shikotan and Habomai had always been Japanese territories and had never
been Russian territories, unlike Sakhalin Island and the Kurile Islands,
that is eighteen islands north of Urup.
Some have argued as if the Russo-Japanese War
and the resulting Portsmouth Treaty had nullified both the 1855 and 1875
treaties. However, others say that the territorial delimitations established
by the two nations in accordance with the 1855 and 1875 treaties were never
nullified by either the Russo-Japanese War or the subsequent Portsmouth
Treaty. According to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan, recently,
a document was published in Russia which stated that until the fall of
Imperial Russia, the border between Russia and Japan had been determined
by the 1875 and 1905 treaties, which were concluded satisfying all the
necessary formal requirements, and providing for no period of validity.
In accordance with international law, a newly formed state succeeded. The
national boundaries of its predecessor. Therefore, these boundaries continued
to be the end of Russian territory under the rule of the Kerenski's provisional
government and of Soviet Russia after the Revolution of 1917.
Then, came World War II and the territorial carve-up
at the Yalta Conference. The Second World War was fought between September
1939 and August 1945. Japan and the Soviet Union were not at war throughout
almost the entire period of the war because a neutrality pact was concluded
between the two countries in April 1941. It was valid for five years. However,
on August 1945, three days after the atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima
and the day an another one was dropped on Nagasaki, the Soviet Union, violating
this neutrality pact, entered into war against Japan that was already on
the brink of defeat. A week later, on August 14, Japan accepted the Potsdam
Proclamation and surrendered to the Allied Powers.
After Japan's defeat, all of its territories were
occupied by the Allied forces. The Allied Powers agreed that Japan proper
would be under American occupation; Taiwan would fall under Chinese occupation;
and that Sakhalin Island and the Kurile Islands would be occupied by the
Soviet forces. Soviet forces occupied Shimushu Island in the Kuriles on
August 18, and on August 27, moved as far south as Urup Island, which is
the southernmost point of the Kurile Islands, and then retreated. However,
after assuring themselves that American forces were absent, by September
3, Soviet troops dared to occupy Etorofu, Kunashir, Shikotan, and Habomai
islands. The occupation of the Northern Territories was wartime occupation
carried out without bloodshed after the cease fire. Consequently, it was
an issue that should have been finally resolved as a result of a peace
treaty. It is reported that Joseph Stalin told President Franklin Roosevelt;
" I only want to have returned to Russia what Japanese have taken from
my country." Japan says that it is not bound by a secret agreement that
did not legally transfer the southern Kuriles.
During a time of war, occupation of one country's
territory by another can take place and according to international ar,
the occupying country has the right to put the territory, based on military
requirements, under its administration. However, at the same time, an occupying
nation's obligation, including respect for the private rights of the residents
are provided for by international norms including the 1907 Hague Convention
respecting the Laws and Customs of War on Land. Stalin ignored these international
norms and incorporated the territories under occupation into its own territory
by the Decree of Presidium of the Supreme Soviet, dated February 2, 1946.
This act was executed without a peace treaty and was in complete violation
of international law. However, under the totalitarian system, this annexation
was disguised as if it were a legal act, and such propaganda had long been
continued as if the islands of Etorofu, Kunashir, Shikotan, and Habomai
had legally become Soviet territory. Consequently, the misconception that
these were indeed Soviet territories began to take hold among people in
the Soviet Union. In addition, reportedly, a misunderstanding arose that
the resolution of the territorial issue between Japan and Russia is the
question of ceding something that is originally Soviet territory to Japan,
or the question of selling out such territory to Japan.
2) Post-war Issues
The
peace treaty between Japan and the Allied Powers including the United States
and the United Kingdom, was signed in San Francisco in 1951. The Soviet
Union participated in the conference, but did not sign the treaty. It is
considered that there are two important points regarding the Northern Territories
in both the context of the San Francisco Peace Conference and the San Francisco
Peace Treaty.
The first point concerns Japan's renunciation
of all rights to the Kurile Islands and the southern half of Sakhalin Island
in accordance with the treaty. The "Kurile Islands" that Japan renounced
did not include Etorofu, Kunashir, Shikotan, or Habomai islands, which
had always been Japanese territories. According to the Ministry of Foreign
Affairs of Japan, the United States government also state in its official
document that the "Kurile Islands" in the San Francisco Peace Treaty does
not include and was not intended to include the Habomai Islands, or Shikotan,
or the islands of Kunashir and Etorofu which have always been part of Japan
proper and therefore under Japanese sovereignty.
The second point is that the Soviet inclusion
of the southern half of Sakhalin Island, the Kurile Islands, and the Northern
Territories into their territory reportedly could not receive recognition
by international society. Then, Foreign Minister Ar made efforts, including
submitting proposed amendments to the treaty draft, so that Soviet sovereignty
over these areas would be recognized, but it was not accepted by the conference,
and was not included in the San Francisco Peace Treaty. For this and other
reasons, the Soviet Union did not sign the treaty. The San Francisco Peace
Treaty expressly stipulates that the treaty shall not confer any benefits
on any non-signatory reportedly.
Since the Soviet Union did not sign the San Francisco
Peace Treaty, Japan and the Soviet Union negotiated for the conclusion
of a separate peace treaty between June 1955 and October 1956. During these
negotiations, Japan reportedly claimed territorial rights to Etorofu, Kunashir,
Shikotan, and Habomai, and demanded the return of these islands, but the
position maintained by the Soviet Union was that they would return Shikotan
and Habomai, but could not return Etorofu and Kunashir. Thus, the negotiations
did not reach a conclusion.
Consequently, in place of a peace treaty, the
Japan-Soviet Joint Declaration was concluded which is a treaty providing
for the termination of the state of war and the resumption of diplomatic
relations. This treaty stipulates in Article 9 that after diplomatic relations
have been established, the peace treaty negotiations shall be continued
and the Soviet Union shall hand over the Habomai and Shikotan Islands to
Japan after the conclusion of a peace treaty, according to the Ministry
of Foreign Affairs of Japan.
In principle, the issue of Habomai and Shikotan
Islands has already been resolved by this Declaration. Thus, it is considered
that only the question of Etorofu and Kunashir Islands remain as an issue
to be resolved in the peace treaty negotiations.
3) Recent Events
Japan
and the Soviet Union continued intermittent peace treaty negotiations after
the conclusion of the Declaration, but no substantive results were achieved.
One particular reason for this was that under the Soviet totalitarian regime,
the adamant position was maintained for a long period of time, that no
territorial dispute had ever existed.
According to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs,
in April 1991, at the time of the visit of then Soviet President Mikhail
Gorbachev to Japan, the Japan-Soviet Joint Communique issued expressly
mentioned the Islands of Habomai, Shikotan, Etorofu, and Kunashir. Furthermore,
in the Communique, it was agreed that the peace treaty should be the document
marking the final resolution of war-related issues, including the territorial
issue and that work to conclude the preparation of a peace treaty would
be accelerated. In September 1992, the Joint Compendium of Document on
the History of Territorial Problems between Japan and Russia was released
simultaneously in both countries.
In October 1993, Russian President Boris Yeltsin
visited Japan, and after negotiating with then Japanese Prime Minister
Morihiro Hosokawa, the Tokyo Declaration was signed. The Declaration established
the clear basis for negotiations toward an early conclusion of a peace
treaty through the solution of the territorial issue on the basis of historical
and legal facts and based on the documents produced with the two countries'
agreement as well as on the principles of law and justice. Since then,
the Tokyo Declaration has been repeatedly confirmed as the basis of the
development of bilateral relations between the two countries.
At the time of visit of First Deputy Prime Minister
of Russia Oleg Soskovets to Japan in November 1994, both sides confirmed
the intention of the two countries to proceed consistently even further
for the early conclusion of a peace treaty, based on the Tokyo Declaration.
In April 1996, on the occasion of the Moscow Nuclear
Safety Summit, Prime Minister Ryutaro Hashimoto and President Boris Yeltsin
had a meeting to discuss bilateral questions, Russia' s reform course,
and international issues, which was successful in creating a political
impetus for advancing overall relations between the two countries in a
balanced manner. As for the territorial issue, the two leaders confirmed
that bilateral relations be developed further on the basis of the Tokyo
Declaration, and agreed that it is important to revitalize the peace treaty
negotiations at the Foreign Minister level. For this purpose, they also
agreed to restart Peace Treaty working Group after Russia's presidential
election.
When Japan lost the islands, 17,000 Japanese were
expelled, most from the southern islands of Shikotan, Iturup, the Habomais,
and Kunashir, just 13 miles from Hokkaido. Ever since, Japan has pressed
a claim to what it calls the Northern Territories.
Only five islands are permanently inhabited. Paramushir
has an estimated 4,500 people. Kunashir has 4,000 people; Shikotan has
1,500 people; the Habomais has 300, and Iturup-- from where Japan launched
the attack on Pearl Harbor has 6,000 people.
It is also important to note that perhaps thousands
of Russian border troops in lonely bases throughout the Kuriles.
President Boris Yeltsin announced during his visit
to Japan in 1993 that Russia would withdraw all military troops other than
border troops from the Northern Territories. Foreign Minister Yevgeny Primakov
explained to Foreign Minister Yukihiro Ikeda that the present number of
Russian military troops in the Northern Territories is 3,500 and there
are none on Shikotan Island, reportedly.
Still back in late 1950s, a young man with little
education could earn nearly three times as much in the Kurile's as on the
mainland Russia. This was because the Soviet government was encouraging
pioneers to settle the Pacific frontier to open up its vast resources.
The government took care of these people with generous subsidies for schools,
health care, and other social services. Back then, every year, it was possible
for the young couple to take a month's vacations on the "continent," as
islanders call the mainland Russia.
After the visit of then Soviet President Mikhail
Gorbachev to Japan in 1991, the framework was established for mutual visits
without passports or visas between Japanese citizens and the current Russian
residents of the Northern Territories. This was done as a provisional measure
to enhance mutual understanding and create an appropriate environment for
negotiations toward the solution of the territorial issue and the conclusion
of a peace treaty until these matters are resolved.
4) Japan's Enduring Interest
Under
this framework, it is reported that 1,381 Japanese nationals visited the
Northern Territories and 1,400 current Russian residents of the Northern
Territories visited Japan during the period 1992-1995.
A visit to the graves in the Northern Territories,
where the remains of relatives of the former Japanese residents are at
rest, was first made in 1964, as a result of negotiations with the Soviet
side. These negotiations were conducted from a humanitarian viewpoint,
in response to the yearnings of the former Japanese residents. After enduring
difficulties to reach agreement between Japanese side and the Soviet side
with respect to voyage procedures, the talks were resumed in 1986 and have
been made continuously since. Since 1990 visits have been made to all the
four islands of the Northern Territories.
Now, most of the Russian civilians on the islands
live in seven towns, in which 40 percent of the houses do not have indoor
plumbing. Live there has always been hard, reportedly. But, especially,
since the end of Soviet rule, government support has dwindled, and it is
become even harder. One problem is that nearly all the wealth from the
main industry-- fishing-- goes to Moscow.
Kurile islanders may be the kin of mainland Russians,
bound by blood and language, but in a sense, they are also the citizens
of a client state, whose wealth is extracted and sent abroad. Changing
old process of fishing industry on the islands was Boris Yeltsin's aim
in December 1992, when he issued an order to create Kuril Islands free
economic zone. The idea was to liberate the islands from the heavy hand
of Moscow by giving them control over the exports, the right to keep foreign
currency earned through trade, and the power to impose quotas on foreign
vessels fishing in Kuril waters. Also, the tax on a company's earnings,
now about eighty percent, would drastically cut to give entrepreneurs to
start new businesses. But, Yeltsin could not authorize the plan. Under
the Russian constitution, only the Duma, the lower house of the Federal
Assembly, can do that, and so far the Duma balked.
The population shrank by a third following the
devastating earthquake in 1994, though some of those who left are now returning.
Despite all the hardships, the rough volcanic islands exert a powerful
hold. It is the same kind of frontier appeal that makes Alankans such vehement
boosters of their state, reportedly.
3. Duration: 1945 to now
4. Location
Continent: Asia
Region: East Asia
Country: Russia
5. Actors: Russia and Japan
II. Environment Aspects
6. Type of Environmental Problem: Species Loss Sea
7. Type of Habitat: Ocean
8. Act and Harm Sites:
Act Site Harm Site Example
Japan Russia Fishing Disputes and Territory
III. Conflict Aspects
9. Type of Conflict
10. Level of Conflict
11. Fatality Level of Dispute (military and civilian
fatalities)
III. Environment and Conflict
Overlap
12. Environment-Conflict Link and Dynamics:
Beyond
furs, the Kurils were a strategic prize: a Pacific frontier for Russia,
stepping-stones to mainland Asia for Japan. Otters, fur seals, and sea
lions, once abundant throughout entire chain, now only exists in small
colonies.
Part from their geopolitical value, which waned
since the end of the Cold War, the Kuriles are awash in valuable salmon,
flounder, tuna, shrimp, clams, and crab, as well as kelp and sea urchins,
some of the delicacies in Japan. The rivers seasonally overflow with salmon
and the off-shore waters support large populations of cod, mackeral, and
ocean perch. The southern region of the Kurils, bordering on the subtropic
zone and at the center of the political dispute, contains the most diverse
and abundant flora due to its heavy rainfall and warm ocean currents.
There have been some incidents with regard to
the control over these sea resources and others. For example, The Current
Digest of the Post-Soviet Press reported in 1994 that according to
an Itar-Tass report, five Japanese fishing vessels intruded into Russian
territorial waters near the South Kurile Island of Anuchin in March. Itar-Tass
also reported that the vessels violated the border in full view of their
own coast guard. Ships and helicopters of the Pacific Border District were
dispatched to the scene of the incident. Not waiting for the events to
take a dangerous turn, the Japanese vessels reportedly set off for Japanese
waters at full speed. Interfax reported that the violators were expelled
from Russian territorial waters by the coast guard ship Amur. The poachers
reportedly could not be detained due to their speed advantage. Then, the
border patrol only destroyed the nets the poachers had cast. That same
day, Admiral Nikolai Kudinov, commander of Border Troops naval forces,
issued a statement saying that the Border Troops, together with the Navy,
will protect the state's economic and national interests by all means permitted
by international law. In turn, the Japanese Maritime Security Administration,
which functions as a coast guard, reportedly, told an Itar-Tass correspondent
in Tokyo that it has no information about any incidents in the vicinity
of the South Kuriles.
The violation of the Northern Territory border
is nothing sensational. It can in no way be compared with the violation
that occurred on January 21-2 of 1994, reports the Current Digest.
On January 21-2, 80 Japanese ships blatantly entered Russian territorial
waters in the vicinity of Kunashir Island. What is different, however,
is the report that Japanese coast guard ships were involved in the incident,
says the Current Digest. The Russian side said at that time that
it lacked reliable information as to whether Japanese fishermen enjoyed
the direct support of their government. However, Moscow did have information
about the insurance benefits paid to the owners of confiscated vessels.
Be that as it may, Admiral Kudinov reportedly warned that in April 1994,
the border troops and the Pacific Fleet would begin a large-scale operation
code-named "Fishing Season" to prevent poaching in Russian waters with
the continuous operation until October.
In August 1994, Japan Times reported that
the Japanese government was hoping to approve a non-governmental fishery
agreement with Russia to ensure safe fishing in the waters surrounding
disputed islands off Hokkaido, according to government sources. The agreement
would be designed to obtain Russia's guarantee that Japanese fishing vessels
would not be harassed in their operations in the vicinity of the disputed
territories, in exchange for Japan providing Russia funds for protection
of the region's fishery resources or for other specific purposes. The government,
however, will reject a "fees-for-fishing" formula of direct payment of
Japanese fishing rights that it believes could undermine the government's
long-standing argument that the four islands seized by the Soviet army
at the end of World War II and still held by Japanese territory, reportedly.
The Japanese government's decision to change its
stance over the issue was promoted by the last shooting and seizure by
the Russian coast guard of a Japanese fishing boat allegedly poaching in
Russian-patrolled waters near the disputed islands, reported Japan Times.
Roughly a third of Russia's fishing catch comes
from the greater trawlers that fish those waters are from Sakhalin and
other ports outside the Kuriles. Most of the 200 million dollars they bring
in goes directly to Moscow as taxes, duties and other fees. In 1994, the
Russian government earmarked only 25 million dollars for investment in
the Kuriles. Yet somehow even that small sum has been spent elsewhere,
as Vladimir Korelski, chairman of Russia's Fishing Committee, reluctantly
admitted. In cash-strapped Russia, the Kuriles Islands just do not have
much pull.
If the economic zone is put in place, trade with
Japan will increase, and the Kuriles will attract new factories, fishing
fleets, homes, and prosperity. For the moment, though, any hopes for a
better future are clouded by the political dispute over the islands, which
could keep them from taking part in the anticipated boom in Russia's resources,
rich Far East.
13. Level of Strategic Interest
14. Outcome of Dispute:
IV. Related Information and
Sources
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16. Relevant Websites and Literature
Websites International
Kurile Island Project(IKIP) Home Page
Literature
"Points of No Return," The New York Times Magazine(September
13, 1992):38-40, 88.96-7.
deVillafrance, Richard. "Japan and the Northern
Territories Dispute-- Past, Present, Future --," Asian Survey volume
XXXIII, no. 6, (June 1993):610-24.
"Japan:Boris, About Our Islands,"The Economistvol.320
n.7722 (August 31, 1991) :31.
Far Eastern Economic Review (June 21, 1990):202-3.
Carlie, E. Lonny."The Changing Political Economy
and Fall of
Seikei Fukabun," Pacific Affairs
Cobb E. Charles, Jr. "Storm Watch over the Kurils,"National
Geographic
(October 1996):48-67.
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