ZAUV(GULF) // SFIBLIKHOVA - ) - I I I OF 0--K-]f, 0 T S K D£RYUG!N BASIN . OKHOTSK OSTROV SAKHALIN " BASIN BEYOND COLD WAR TO TRILATERAL COOPERATION IN THE ASIA-PACIFIC REGION SCENARIOS FOR NEW RELATIONSHIPS BE1WEEN JAPAN, RUSSIA, AND THE UNITED STATES APPENDICES F-N Co-Directors Graham Allison Hiroshi Kimura Konstantin Sarkisov Harvard University International ResearchCenter for Institute for Oriental Studies· Japanese Studies Trilateral, Coordinator. FionaHill Trilateral Task Force: Peter Berton, Keith Highet, Pamela Jewett, MasashiNishihara, VladimirYeremin Trilateral Working Group: Gelly Batenin, Evgenii Bazhanov, Oleg Bondarenko, Timothy Colton, Tsyuoshi Hasegawa, Igor Kan, Alexei Kiva, Alexander Panov, Susan Pharr, Sergei Punzhin, Courtney Purrington, Vassily Saplin Contents F. "The Evolution of the Japanese-Russian Territorial Dilemma": Extracts from a report to the Task Force by Professor Peter Berton G. The Role of the United States: Extracts from U.S. State Department Documents [1943- 1960], edited by Pamela Jewett H. International Legal Aspects of the Dispute: Papers by Professor Keith Highet, and by Dr. Sergei Punzhin I. "The Kuril Islands: Resolution of Analogous Disputes," Report of the International Boundaries Research Unit, University of Durham Adderulum to the Report of the International Bourularies Research Unit, by Professor Keith Highet J. "Paper on the Contemporary Situation in the Kuril Islands," by Oleg Bondarenko K. "The Approach of Foreign Countries Towards the Normalization of Japanese-Russian Relations: Neutralization of Possible Negative Consequences of the Normalization in the International Arena," by Dr. Evgenii Bazhanov L. The Military-Strategic and Security Aspects of the Dispute: Papers by General Gelly Viktor Batenin, and by Professor Masashi Nishihara M. Additional Papers Submitted to the Task Force N. "Plan for Developing the Northern Territories, April 1991," by the Northern Territories Four Islands Development Planning Committee of Nemuro, Japan APPENDIX F APPENDIX F THE EVOLUTION OF THE JAPANESE-RUSSIAN TERRITORIAL DILEMMA by Professor Peter Berton School of International Relations University of Southern California The following is a compilation of extracts from a report to the Task Force by Professor Peter Berton. His entire report, which deals with the history of the dilemma in greater depth, is available upon request. It provides a comprehensive appraisal of the issues. For reasons of space, we could not reproduce the whole document here. What is at Stake The current Japanese-Russian territorial dispute revolves around four islands (or more precisely three islands and a group of small islands) off the coast of Hokkaido, the northernmost of the four main Japanese islands. More specifically, the territory in question involves the two southernmost islands in the Kuril Archipelago -- Kunashiri (known to the Russians as Kunashir) and Etorofu (lturup) -- plus the island of Shikotan and the small Habomai chain of islands located east of Hokkaido and south of the Kuril chain. In terms of size, Etorofu's area is 3,139 square kilometers; Kunashiri, 1,1500 sq. km.; Shikotan, 255 sq. km.; and the Habomais, 102 sq. km. The total area is just short of 5,000 square kilometers, or more than double that of Okinawa Prefecture (2,249 sq. km.) which was under American occupation from 1945 to 1972. In terms of distance, Suisho Island in the Habomais is about three miles from the tip of Cape Nosappu, while Kunashiri Island is clearly visible from Shiretoko Peninsula'. A word about terminology. The Kuril Islands, stretching in an arc from the Kamchatka Peninsula to Hokkaido, were known to the Japanese as Chishima Retto (Thousand Islands Archipelago). Shikotan and the Habomai group were mostly considered part of Hokkaido, and were usually not included in the Kuril chain by the Japanese. The Russians, on the other hand, refer to the Kuril Islands as the Great Kurils (Bol'shaia Kuril'skaia griada), and to Shikotan and the Habomais as the Lesser Kurils (Malaia Kuril'skaia griada) .. The inclusion of Shikotan and the Habomais into a Kuril nomenclature was done by the Soviets after their occupation of the islands in 1945, so that these islands would be connected to "the Kuril Islands" awarded to the USSR at the Yalta Conference in February 1945 (see below). All of this is very important because there is no definition of what constitutes the Kuril Islands acceptable to the two sides. Since the Japanese have renounced all claims to "the Kuril Islands" at the San Francisco Peace Conference (see below), they now exclude Kunashiri and Etorofu from the Kurils and claim that these two islands are separate from the Kuril chain. Secondly, the Russians can claim that not only Kunashiri and Etorofu, but also Shikotan and the Habomais, are part of the Kuril Islands. Thus, the Japanese say that there are eighteen islands in the Kuril chain, starting from northwest to southeast: (1) Shimushu (Shumshu), (2) Araido (Alaid), (3) Paramushiru (Paramushir), (4) Makanrushi, (5) Onekotan, (6) Harumukotan (Harimkotan), (7) Ekaruma (Ekarma), (8) Shasukotan (Shiashkotan), (9) Mushiru (Mussir), (10) Raikoke, (11) Matsuwa (Matua), (12) Rashuwa (Rastua), (13) 1 the islets of Suride (Sredneva) and Ushishiru (Ushisir), (14) Ketoi, (15) Shimushiru (Simusir), (16) Buroton (Broton or Broughton), (17) the islets of Cherupoi (Cherpoi) and Buratto Cherupoefu (Brat Cherpoi) [also known as Black Brothers], and (18) Uruppu (Urup). The Russians count twenty islands, adding (19) Iturup (Etorofu) and (20) Kunashir (Kunashiri). Exploration and Colonization of the Disputed Islands Although the question of which country first discovered and colonized the disputed islands may not be the most important factor in determining the legitimacy of Japanese and Russian claims to the territory, we ought to begin our survey by briefly outlining the historical claims of the two protagonists. Yet before we review the Japanese and Russian positions, we ought to record the fact that the islands really belong to the Ainus, the islands' original inhabitants. The Japanese penetration of the Kuril Islands and the Island of Sakhalin was the result of the natural process of Japanese northward push, displacing the Ainu inhabitants first in northern Honshu, then in Hokkaido (then known as Yezo), and finally in the Kurils and Sakhalin. Russia's advance into the Kurils was the result of moving to explore the islands south of the Kamchatka Peninsula. Some Japanese secondary sources or chronologies begin with the year 1590 when Japan's de facto ruler Hideyoshi Toyotomi granted the Matsumae warrior clan a fiefdom covering Yezo (Hokkaido), Chishima (the Kurils), and Karafuto (Sakhalin). Others begin with the year 1635, when the Matsumae clan began to explore Yezo and complete first maps of Kunashiri, Etorofu and "other northern islands." In 1731, the Ainu inhabitants of Kunashiri and Etorofu for the first time sent tribute to the Matsumae authorities, and in 1754 the Matsumaes established a trading post on Kunashiri. The first Europeans in the Kurils were not the Russians, but the Dutch who discovered the islands in 1643. Russian sources cite first Kozyrevski and then Martyn Shpanberg's mapping of the Kuril Islands in 1739 and somewhat later baptizing the Ainu inhabitants and making them swear allegiance to the Tsar. The multi-volume Bol 'shaia Entsikl,opediia (Large Encyclopedia), published in St. Petersburg at the tum of the century, credits Dutchman de Vries with discovering the islands. As for ownership, the encyclopedia article states that "later the northern islands were captured (zakhvacheny) by the Russians, and the southern islands by the Japanese" (emphasis added). So much for Soviet claims of Russian primacy in exploring and developing the Southern Kurils, including Shikotan. In 1991, two Russian scholars have belatedly admitted that, contrary to Soviet propaganda, the Kurils were not "historically Russian": . .any person with even rudimentary knowledge of history and ethnography will tell you that the native population of the Kuril ridge were not Russians or Japanese but the Ainu. Perhaps it is more correct to stress the colonial nature of both Russian and Japanese activities on the Kuril Islands and disregard both Russian and Japanese claims that the islands are "their own" ("koyu" in Japanese; "iskonnye" in Russian). In fact, we can properly speak of Russian and Japanese "imperialist" and colonial expansion into the Kuril Islands area. One of the most recent Russian works on the Kuril problem plainly states that the real owners of the Kuril islands are the Ainus, and that colonization of the area on the part of both Russia and Japan does not constitute a basis for any territorial claims. 2 Historical Stages in the Evolution of the Territorial Problem The stages in the evolution of the territorial problem between Japan and Russia {the Soviet Union) are: 1. The boundary line agreed upon in the Russo-Japanese Treaty of Commerce, Navigation and Delimitation signed in Shimoda, Japan in 1855, according to which the boundary between the two countries runs between the islands of Urup (Uruppu)·and lturup (Etorofu), i.e., confirming that Kunashiri and Etorofu belonged to Japan, while the status of the island of Sakhalin was left unresolved pending future negotiations. 2. Major changes in the boundary following the Russo-Japanese Exchange Treaty of 1875 signed in St. Petersburg, essentially Japan trading its claims to the island of Sakhalin in exchange for all the Kuril islands