PRESS RELEASE
Moscow and Tokyo Preparing To Sign Long-Awaited Peace Treaty
Nov. 2, 2016 (EIRNS)—Russia Beyond the Headlines (RBTH) today reported, citing Federation Council (upper house of the Russian parliament) Chair Valentina Matvienko, the preparation of a draft peace treaty between Russia and Japan, scheduled to be signed by two heads of state when Russian President Vladimir Putin visits Japan next month. Such a treaty has been awaited for 70 years since World War II ended.
"There have already been a series of consultations at the level of deputy foreign ministers," Matvienko said, adding that she was confident that Russia and Japan could draft a mutually acceptable peace treaty", the report added. In line with what Matvienko said, Jiji wire reported today, [T]he head of the secretariat of Japan’s National Security Council—and a key diplomatic aide to the Japanese premier, Shotaro Yachi—will be visiting Russia (Nov. 8-10) to lay the groundwork for a bilateral summit between President Putin and Prime Minister Shinzo Abe set for Dec. 15.
Following the end of World War II, the San Francisco peace treaty was signed (1951) with most of the allied states, which guaranteed Japan’s independence and territorial integrity and the terms under which Japan was re-admitted into the international community. The Soviet government did not sign the treaty, in protest of the fact that the United States decided to omit Communist China from the discussions. As a result, Russia and Japan did not sign a peace treaty although they had established diplomatic relations in 1956.
The Russian-Japan peace treaty will have a profound, positive effect on the Eurasian region where Japan, along with China, India, and Russia, are actively pushing infrastructure-centered economic development. Singapore-based Channel News Asia reported today, for example, on Japan’s Prime Minister Abe announcing aid worth 800 billion yen (about $7.4 billion) to Myanmar over five years. He made the announcement at a joint news conference with visiting Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi in Tokyo.
