Japan's prime minister, Junichiro Koizumi, defied Russian objections yesterday to sail within viewing distance of the disputed Kuril islands, seized by the Red Army at the end of the Second World War. Japan has never renounced its claim to the tiny islands, which it calls the Northern Territories. The dispute over ownership has prevented Tokyo and Moscow from signing a post-war peace treaty. Mr Koizumi viewed the four islands through binoculars from a coastguard vessel in Japanese territorial waters. The visit was opposed by Russia which said: "Such actions not only fail to give a positive impetus to peace treaty negotiations, but will only complicate the negotiations once again."
The visit was aimed at shoring up political support for Mr Koizumi, who has combined a policy of economic reform with open nationalism. He has repeatedly paid his respects at the Yasukuni shrine in Tokyo, which glorifies Japan's war dead. Like the shrine, the return of the four islands, only 10 miles off the northern Japanese island of Hokkaido, is an obsession of the country's Right-wingers. Mr Koizumi said this week that the trip was intended to demonstrate that the islands were "an indigenous part of Japan." The Soviet Union entered the war against Japan only in its dying days, breaking a non-aggression pact to seize the Kuril islands along with almost all of Japanese held Manchuria . Mr Koizumi's inspection came a day before the 59th anniversary of the completion of the occupation. About 100 elderly former residents of the islands and their families, evicted by Russia, waved Japanese flags as Mr Koizumi set off yesterday from a port in Hokkaido for the brief trip. Around 14,000 poor Russians are at present the only residents of the islands.
Testing the strength of the old bear? Popular pursuit lately. |