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Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan delivers a speech at a rally marking Northern Territory Day in Tokyo on 7 February. Japan has reiterated its demand to Russia for the return of the four islands, known as the Northern Territories in Japan and the Southern Kuril islands in Russia. (PA)



Japan, Russia stir up a storm over Kuril islands


Kosuke Takahashi
JDW Correspondent
Tokyo

The escalation of a long-running territorial dispute between Japan and Russia is sending relations between the neighbours to their lowest point in decades and may lead to new areas of tension in northeast Asia.

The dispute relates to four islands that Japan calls the Northern Territories and Russia the Southern Kurils. The Soviet Union annexed Kunashiri, Etorofu, Shikotan and the uninhabited Habomai islets after the Second World War, fomenting a dispute that has prevented the two nations from concluding a post-war peace treaty.

Tensions resurfaced in November 2010 when Dmitry Medvedev became the first Russian president to visit the islands with a trip to Kunashiri. Russia's first deputy premier, regional development minister and defence minister followed with trips of their own.

Japan's reaction has been predictably angry, with Prime Minister Naoto Kan describing Medvedev's visit as an "unforgivable outrage" at a 7 February rally in Tokyo. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov described Kan's comments as ''undiplomatic'' and on 8 February demanded Japanese authorities investigate anti-Russian protests in front of the Russian Embassy in Tokyo.

Medvedev on 9 February instructed the defence ministry to strengthen Russia's military presence on the islands, describing them as a part of "a strategic region". The Interfax news agency on 10 February quoted a Russian Defence Ministry source as saying that Russia planned to set up a military airport and deploy helicopter gunships with a transport capability on Etorofu island: the largest island of the four. It also said Moscow will also boost air-defence capabilities on Etorofu and Kunashiri by upgrading the current machine gun and artillery regiments.

The Itar-Tass news agency, meanwhile, reported on 9 February that Russia will deploy French-built Mistral-class amphibious assault vessels, the first of which is due to enter service by late 2013, to Russia's Pacific Fleet headquartered in Vladivostok. The Pacific Fleet is tasked with protecting the Southern Kurils.

The islands' rich mineral and fishing reserves and strategic position make them a valuable prize. The straits between them do not freeze during winter, allowing Russia's Pacific Fleet to access to the Pacific Ocean from the Sea of Okhotsk.

Russian experts in Tokyo say Medvedev is combining the political advantages of playing a nationalistic card ahead of 2012 elections with an awareness that Japan's new defence policy focuses on meeting Chinese territorial ambitions in the East China Sea.

"This territorial dispute was so sensitive for the Japanese people that Russian presidents have avoided visiting these islands," Ukeru Magosaki, a former head of the Japanese Foreign Ministry's international intelligence bureau, told Jane's .

Magosaki also suggested that "since Russia is getting along with NATO ... it may think raising tensions with Japan will not affect its diplomatic relations worldwide. It may think this is just a bilateral issue".

The US has signalled that it is keen for Japan to choose the F-35 for its next-generation fighter. (Lockheed Martin)



Japan, US sign NDA over F-35


Kosuke Takahashi
JDW Correspondent
Tokyo

Key Points
•Japan's foreign minister and the US ambassador have signed a non-disclosure agreement relating to the F-35 II Lightning Joint Strike Fighter

•The announcement comes after US Secretary of Defense Robert Gates told reporters he would recommend the F-35 to his Japanese counterpart


Japan and the US have exchanged notes that require Tokyo to ensure confidentiality of systems, technologies and other information concerning the Lockheed Martin F-35 II Lightning Joint Strike Fighter.

Japanese Foreign Minister Seiji Maehara and US Ambassador to Japan John Roos exchanged documents based on the 1954 US-Japan Mutual Defence Assistance Agreement that specify protecting data related to the F-35 fighter, Japan's Foreign Ministry announced on 18 January.

The Foreign Ministry statement confirmed that the F-35 was "one of the candidates for Japan's main next-generation (FX) fighter". The F-35 is being developed by Lockheed Martin for nine partner nations including Australia, the UK and the US. Other candidates for the FX programme include the Eurofighter Typhoon and Boeing's F-15 and F/A-18E/F Super Hornet platforms.

In remarks made during his Asian trip in January, US Secretary of Defense Robert Gates suggested he would recommend the F-35 to Japan as its main next-generation fighter.

The Japanese Ministry of Defence (MoD) has allotted about JPY600 million (USD7.3 million) for research costs to select the FX fighter in its Fiscal Year 2011 (FY11) budget starting April, with an eye to securing a procurement budget in Fiscal Year 2012 (FY12). The MoD says it plans to select the new fighter by the end of the calendar year.

Japan will buy 12 fighters during the next five years, according to a new mid-term defence programme approved by the Cabinet of Prime Minister Naoto Kan in December.