Plan to Settle Russo-Japanese Dispute Offered

Foreign Minister Michio Watanabe for the first time Saturday spelled out a compromise acceptable to Japan that would end a territorial dispute with Russia and open the door to “trillions of yen” worth of Japanese aid. One trillion yen is worth $7.5 billion.

Watanabe, who will visit Moscow beginning April 29, offered a detailed proposal that he called “an example of a flexible response” to solve Japan’s 47-year dispute with Moscow over four northern islands seized by Moscow after World War II ended. It included:

* A Russian acknowledgment that the Soviet seizure of the islands was “a mistake of Stalinism” and that Russian control of them constitutes “an illegal occupation.”

* Simultaneous conclusion of a peace treaty, formally ending World War II between the two countries, and the return to Japan of the Habomai group of islets and Shikotan Island, both located off Japan’s main northern island of Hokkaido, together with an acknowledgment that Japan holds sovereignty over Kunashiri and Etorofu, the southernmost islands of the Kuril chain northeast of Hokkaido.

* Japanese acceptance of continued Russian administration of Kunashiri and Etorofu “for a certain period of time” and the launching of “trillions of yen of full-scale aid” after a peace treaty is concluded.

“We are now, at this moment, engaged in these negotiations,” Watanabe said in a speech in Otawara in his home constituency of Tochigi prefecture (state). Film of part of the speech was shown on television news shows.

Watanabe’s trip to Moscow is part of preparations for a visit to Japan in September by Russian President Boris N. Yeltsin. Settlement of the territorial issue and full-scale Japanese aid to Moscow would establish a major new framework for both political and economic developments in Northeast Asia.

The foreign minister’s proposal was, by far, the most specific compromise that any Japanese leader has offered publicly and displayed a flexibility on the territorial dispute that has not appeared before in official statements. Until now, Japan has insisted on the return of all four islands simultaneously.

Watanabe said that Japan is not refusing to help Moscow before settlement of the territorial dispute and mentioned $2.55 billion in aid that Japan already has pledged.

“But above that, full-scale aid of how many trillions, how many billions of yen will come only after conclusion of the peace treaty,” he said.

Last Wednesday, Watanabe’s political mentor, former Prime Minister Yasuhiro Nakasone, enunciated almost exactly the same proposal in the form of a question to visiting former Soviet President Mikhail S. Gorbachev, only to receive a severe rebuff. In a two-hour debate between the two former leaders, Gorbachev emphasized the need for establishing trust between Moscow and Tokyo before Russia would consider returning the islands. As an example, he cited the long process of building up close relations between Moscow and Bonn that preceded agreement on the reunification of Germany.

Watanabe now leads the faction of ruling party members of Parliament that Nakasone formerly headed.

The foreign minister cited the example of Okinawa, a Japanese prefecture that the United States took over in 1945 in the last major World War II ground battle in the Pacific theater. Without specifying a date for its reversion to Japanese control, Washington recognized Japan’s “residual sovereignty” and continued to rule Okinawa until 1972, 20 years after it ended its post-World War II occupation of the Japanese main islands.

“If Russia admits, in some form, that occupation of the islands is illegal, we will be flexible on the date for reversion (of Kunashiri and Etorofu),” he said. “There’s no sense in demanding reversion tomorrow or the day after. More than 30,000 people live there and have family graves there. We are saying (to Russia), ‘Let’s discuss allowing those who want to leave to do so, those who want to stay to do so, and set a direction (for the future).’ We are now, at this moment, engaged in these negotiations,” he said.

In February, Prime Minister Kiichi Miyazawa said that Japan would be willing to allow the Russian islanders to continue living there after reversion. No Russian citizens live on Shikotan and Habomai.