Russian Parliamentarians Condemn Japan’s Kuril Islands Claim

VLADIVOSTOK. June 25. VOSTOK-MEDIA – The State Duma of the Russian Federation responded firmly to Japanese North Kuril Islands claims, reported Mail.Ru.
Moscow has made a statement that in case Japan’s parliament passes a bill, claiming some of Kuril Islands as an integral part of Japan, negotiations about Kuril Islands will be pointless.
The draft bill proclaiming the southernmost Kuril Islands to be part of Japan was adopted, however, only by lower house of Japan’s parliament. There is no doubt that the upper house will enact the bill with the same unanimity, though.
The main purpose of the bill is to document these islands as original Japanese territories, said Japan’s lower house deputy Seiji Maehara (Democratic Party of Japan).
To put it simply – it is just a wishful thinking. The dispute between the two countries has been on outside the parliament since Japan’s defeat in WWII.
The islands of Kunashir, Shikotan, the Khabamai Rocks and Iturup are marked in all Japanese maps as part of Hokkaido Prefecture. World outlook takes root in school years. Every textbook on history in Japan says these islands are illegally occupied Japanese territory.
Japan will not sign a peace treaty with Russia until the issue relating the islands is solved. Moreover, Japan authorities have said many times about their readiness to negotiate the most diverse ways to political solutions, but upon a closer view it has always turned out that there are only two options: either you give us the four islands at once or you give them by parts. In point of fact the Japanese position has never been a compromise one. It just seems like Japan’s officials do not conceal it any longer.
Chances are nil that the draft law on the North Kuril Islands would be taken aside. The bill was approves unanimously and that means that every politicians of the country back up the bill. The Japanese are infuriated by lack of signs of solving the issue, in spite of active development of relationships between the countries in various fields, including economy, said the Japan’s statesman Shigeki Hakamada.