Soviet-Japanese Territorial Talks Seem Close to Failure

High-level talks aimed at breaking the deadlock in Soviet-Japan relations seemed headed for failure Tuesday as the foreign ministers of the two countries were unable to come to terms over a protracted territorial dispute.

Soviet Foreign Minister Eduard A. Shevardnadze and his Japanese counterpart, Sosuke Uno, engaged in “heated” discussions on the territorial issue, but made “no progress in substance,” a Japanese Foreign Ministry spokesman said.

Working-level consultations addressing the Northern Territories--a group of small islands off the northernmost main Japanese island of Hokkaido that the Soviets have occupied since 1945--also had negative results.

No Concessions

“Neither side showed any concessions,” said Seiichi Kondo, the ministry spokesman. “Their positions are still far apart.”

Late Tuesday, it was not clear whether the two sides would even be able to agree on how to refer to the territorial problem in a joint-communique that Shevardnadze and Uno were expected to release today before the Soviet foreign minister ends his three-day visit to Japan. Officials were set to negotiate through the night on suitable wording for the statement, Kondo said.

The talks appeared crippled by the same pattern of intransigence that has put a chill on relations between the countries since diplomatic ties were normalized in 1956.

Japan has insisted that negotiations on a bilateral peace treaty formally ending World War II hostilities cannot begin in earnest until the territorial dispute has been resolved. The Soviet side has refused--officially--to acknowledge the existence of Japan’s claim to the islands and has maintained that any pending bilateral problems should be dealt with only after conclusion of a treaty.

In the meantime, the Soviets are hoping to expand economic ties, especially in Siberian development projects. The Japanese have thus far rebuffed such overtures.

The Soviet side raised the matter of increased economic cooperation in working-level talks Tuesday, specifically proposing a investment protection agreement. But the Japanese side deflected the proposal, arguing that “the overall situation of bilateral relations is not necessarily suitable for further promotion of investment,” Kondo said.

Prime Minister Noboru Takeshita drove home Japan’s position on the Northern Territories when he met with Shevardnadze in the morning, saying that the territorial problem “is unavoidable for Japanese-Soviet relations. Once solved, clear new prospects for better cooperation will be opened.”

Shevardnadze delivered to Takeshita a letter from President Mikhail S. Gorbachev, the contents of which were not disclosed, and said the Soviet leader has put a potential visit to Japan on his political calendar for next year. Top leaders of the two countries have not met in 15 years.

A crucial test of the Shevardnadze visit will be whether the two sides can agree on a format to continue the working-level discussions on the peace treaty, which Japan apparently wants to focus narrowly on the dispute over the islands. No decision had been made as of Tuesday to resume these talks, although both sides have indicated that they favored doing so.