Japan PM tells Putin no U.S. bases on disputed isles if handed over

16/11/2018 12:44

        Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo
        Abe, eager to resolve a row that has haunted ties with Moscow
        since World War Two, has told Russian President Vladimir Putin
        the United States would not put troops on disputed islands if
        they are handed over to Japan, a newspaper reported on Friday.
        
        Seeking to cement his diplomatic legacy and improve ties
        with Russia to counter a rising China, Abe has pledged to settle
        the dispute over four isles in the Western Pacific that were
        occupied by Soviet troops toward the end of the war.
        
        They are known as the Northern Territories in Japan and the
        Southern Kuriles in Russia.
        
        Any agreement involving transfer of sovereignty to Japan
        would have to address whether the U.S.-Japan security treaty,
        the core of Japan’s diplomacy, would apply, including whether
        Washington would have the right to put military bases on the
        islands.
        
        The isles have strategic value for Russia, ensuring naval
        access to the western Pacific.
        
        The two leaders agreed in talks in Singapore on Wednesday to
        speed up talks based on a 1956 joint declaration in which the
        Soviet Union agreed it would hand over two smaller islands after
        a peace treaty formally ending the war had been concluded.
        
        The Asahi newspaper said Abe told Putin the United States
        would not put military bases on the two smaller islands
        thereafter, the Asahi newspaper said, adding Abe's top security
        adviser had previously said bases were possible.
        
        Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga declined to comment
        on the report.
        
        Japan has long insisted its sovereignty over all four
        islands be confirmed before a peace treaty is signed.
        
        In recent years, however, there have been signs Tokyo was
        rethinking its stance, perhaps with "two-plus-alpha" formula
        that would focus on the handover of the two smaller isles and
        some sort of visa-free access to the larger islands plus joint
        economic projects.
        
        A breakthrough has been elusive. But Abe, who is expected to
        meet Putin again at a Group of 20 summit in Buenos Aires from
        Nov. 30 and in Russia early next year, has said he's determined
        to settle the dispute before leaving office in 2021.
        
        Putin may be less keen. Russian news agency Tass quoted him
        as saying after meeting Abe in Singapore that talks based on the
        1956 statement "certainly demands separate, additional and in
        depth analysis, given that not everything is clear in that
        Declaration".