Once again about the claims of Japan to our Kuril Islands

2024 Author: Seth Attwood | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 15:55

Japan took away a hundred years ago our Russian lands- half of Sakhalin and all the Kuril Islands as a result of Russia's defeat in the 1905 war. Since that time, the famous song "On the Hills of Manchuria" has remained, which to this day in Russia reminds of the bitterness of that defeat.

However, times have changed, and Japan itself has become defeatistin World War II, which personally startedagainst China, Korea and other Asian countries. And, overestimating its strength, Japan even attacked the United States at Pearl Harbor in December 1941 - after that, the United States entered the war against Japan and its ally Hitler. Yes Yes, Japan was Hitler's ally, but they hardly remember that today. Why? To whom has history become displeasing in the West?

As a result of its own military disaster, Japan signed the "Act of unconditional surrender"(!), Where the text clearly states that" We hereby pledge that the Japanese Government and its successors will honestly comply with the terms of the Potsdam Declaration. And in that "Potsdam Declaration" it was specified that "Japanese sovereignty will be limited to the islands Honshu, Hokkaido, Kyushu, Shikoku and those smaller the islands that we indicate. " And where are the "northern territories" that the Japanese demand "back" from Moscow? In general, what territorial claims against Russia can we talk about in Japan, which deliberately went on aggression in alliance with Hitler?

Further - a very well-reasoned commentary by the famous Russian political scientist Natalia Nrochnitskaya, which was published a long time ago, but nothing has changed since then. Thesis:

- Regarding purely negatively to any transfer of any islands to Japan, in all fairness it should be clarified: the tactics of recent years, which are perfectly clear to professionals, is as follows - not to deny the backhand promised by the previous authorities, to speak only about the fidelity of the 1956 Declaration, that is, only about Habomai and Shikotane, thereby excluding from the problematic Kunashir and Iturup, which appeared under pressure from Japan in the negotiations in the mid-90s, and, finally, accompany the words about the "fidelity" of the Declaration with formulations that today do not strictly coincide with the position of Japan.

- The declaration assumed first the conclusion of a peace treaty and only then the "transfer" of the two islands. The transfer is an act of goodwill, a willingness to dispose of one's own territory "in accordance with the wishes of Japan and taking into account the interests of the Japanese state." Japan, on the other hand, insists that "return" should precede the peace treaty, because the very concept of "return" is a recognition of the illegality of their belonging to the USSR, as is a revision not only of the very results of the Second World War, but also of the principle of the inviolability of these results.

- Satisfaction of Japanese claims for the "return" of the islands would mean a direct undermining of the principle of the indisputability of the results of the Second World War and would open up the possibility of questioning other aspects of the territorial status quo.

- Japan's "complete and unconditional surrender" is fundamentally different from simple surrender in terms of legal, political and historical implications. Simple "surrender" means an admission of defeat in hostilities and does not affect the international legal personality of the defeated power, no matter what losses it incurs. Such a state retains its sovereignty and legal personality and itself, as a legal party, negotiates the terms of peace."Complete and unconditional surrender" means the termination of the existence of the subject of international relations, the dismantling of the former state as a political institution, the loss of its sovereignty and all power powers, which are transferred to the victorious powers, which themselves determine the conditions of peace and the post-war order and settlement.

- In the case of "complete and unconditional surrender" with Japan, then Japan retained the former emperor, which is used to assert that Japan's legal personality was not interrupted. However, in reality, the source of the preservation of imperial power is different - it is will and decision of the Winners.

- US Secretary of State J. Byrnes pointed out to V. Molotov: "Japan's position does not stand up to criticism, that it cannot consider itself bound by the Yalta agreements, since it was not a party to them." Today's Japan is a post-war state, and the settlement can proceed solely from the post-war international legal basis, especially since only this basis has legal force.

- In the "Soviet-Japanese Declaration of October 19, 1956", the USSR's readiness to "transfer" the islands of Habomai and Shikotan to Japan was recorded, but only after the conclusion of the Peace Treaty. It is not about "return", but about "transfer", that is, about the willingness to dispose of the quality act of goodwill its territory, which does not create a precedent for revising the results of the war.

- The United States exerted direct pressure on Japan during the Soviet-Japanese negotiations in 1956 and did not stop at an ultimatum: The United States announced that if Japan signed a "Peace Treaty" with the USSR, in which it agrees to recognize South Sakhalin and the Kuril Islands as part of the USSR, "the United States will forever keep the Ryukyu Islands" (Okinawa) in its possession.

- The signing of the "Soviet-Japanese Declaration", according to N. Khrushchev, was supposed to deter Japan from concluding an agreement on military cooperation with the United States. However, such an agreement between Tokyo and Washington followed on January 19, 1960, and it was indefinite the stay of the American armed forces on the Japanese territory.

- On January 27, 1960, the Soviet government announced "a change in circumstances" and warned that " only on condition of the withdrawal of all foreign troops from the territory of Japan and the signing of the Peace Treaty between the USSR and Japan, the islands of Habomai and Shikotan will be transferred to Japan ».

These are the considerations about the Japanese "Wishlist".

Did the Japanese win the war against Russia in 1905? - We won.

The Japanese took from us half of Sakhalin and the Kuril Islands in 1905? - They took it away.

Did the Japanese declare in 1905 that "War is canceling out all treaties"? - They said.

Did the Japanese flood to Soviet Russia on Lake Khasan and the Khalkingol River in the 1930s? - Popperly and were beaten.

The Japanese were defeated (Kwantung Army) by the Soviet army in 1945? - Were defeated.

Did the Japanese sign the Unconditional Surrender Act? - Signed.

So what is the conversation about today?

Who is going to revise the results of the Second World War enshrined in international law?

Kuriles: not four bare islands

Recently, the "question" of the South Kuril Islands has been discussed again. The disinformation media are carrying out the task of the current government - to convince the people that we do not need these islands. The obvious is hushed up: after the transfer of the South Kuriles to Japan Russia will lose a third of its fish, our Pacific Fleet will be locked up and will not get free access to the Pacific Ocean, it will be necessary to revise the entire border system in the east of the country etc. I, a geologist who has worked in the Far East, Sakhalin for 35 years, who has been to the South Kurils more than once, is especially outraged by the lie about the "four naked islands" supposedly representing the South Kuriles.

Let's start with the fact that the South Kuriles are not 4 islands. They include about. Kunashir, O. Iturup and all islands of the Lesser Kuril ridge … The latter includes Fr. Shikotan (182 sq. Km), about. Green (69 sq. Km), about. Polonsky (15 sq. Km), about. Tanfilieva (8 sq. Km), about. Yuri (7 sq. Km), about. Anuchina (3 sq. Km) and many smaller islands: about. Demina, O. Shards, O. Watchdog, O. Signal other. And to the island Shikotan usually include islands Grieg and Aivazovsky … The total area of the islands of the Lesser Kuril Ridge is about 300 sq. km, and all the islands of the South Kuriles - more than 8500 sq. km … What the Japanese, and after them "our" democrats and some diplomats, call an island Habo mai, Is about 20 islands.

The bowels of the Southern Kuriles contain a large complex of minerals. Its leading elements are gold and silver, the deposits of which are explored on the island. Kunashir. Here, at the Prasolovskoye field, in some areas, the content gold reaches a kilogram or more, silver - up to 5 kg per ton of rock. The predicted resources of the North Kunashir ore cluster alone amount to 475 tons of gold and 2,160 tons of silver (these and many other figures are taken from the book "Mineral and Raw Materials Base of Sakhalin and the Kuril Islands at the Turn of the Third Millennium" published by the Sakhalin Book Publishing House last year). But, apart from Fr. Kunashir, other islands of the South Kuriles are also promising for gold and silver.

In the same Kunashir, polymetallic ores are known (Valentinovskoye deposit), in which the content zinc reaches 14%, copper - up to 4%, gold - up to 2 g / t, silver - up to 200 g / t, barium- up to 30%, strontium - until 3 %. Stocks zinc are 18 thousand tons, copper - 5 thousand tons. On the islands of Kunashir and Iturup there are several ilmenite-magnetite placers with a high gland (up to 53%), titanium (up to 8%) and higher concentrations vanadium … Such raw materials are suitable for the production of high-grade vanadium cast iron. In the late 60s, Japan offered to buy Kuril ilmenite-magnetite sands. Is it because of the high vanadium content? But in those years, not everything was bought and sold, there were values more expensive than money, and transactions were not always accelerated by bribes.

Especially noteworthy is the recently revealed rich ore accumulations in the South Kuril Islands. rhenium, which goes to parts of supersonic aircraft and missiles, protects metal from corrosion and wear. These ores are present-day volcanic drifts. The ore continues to accumulate. It is estimated that only one Kudryavy volcano on the island. Iturup takes out 2.3 tons of rhenium per year. In some places, the content of this valuable metal in the ore reaches 200 g / t. Will we give it to the Japanese too?

We will single out deposits from non-metallic minerals sulfur … Today this raw material is one of the most scarce in our country. Volcanic sulfur deposits have long been known in the Kuril Islands. The Japanese have developed it in many places. Soviet geologists explored and prepared for development a large Novoe sulfur deposit. Only in one of its sections - Zapadny - industrial sulfur reserves amount to more than 5 million tons. On the islands of Iturup and Kunashir, there are many and smaller deposits that can attract entrepreneurs. In addition, some geologists consider the area of the Lesser Kuril Ridge promising for oil and gas.

In the South Kuriles, there are very scarce in the country and very valuable thermal mineral waters … The most famous of them are the Hot Beach springs, in which waters with a high content of silicic and boric acids have a temperature of up to 100^OC. There is a hydropathic establishment here. Similar waters - in the North Mendeleevsky and Chaikinsky springs on the island. Kunashir, as well as in a number of places on the island. Iturup.

And who has not heard about the thermal waters of the Southern Kuriles? In addition to the tourism object, it is thermal power raw materials, the importance of which has recently increased in connection with the ongoing energy crisis in the Far East and the Kuril Islands. So far, a geothermal hydroelectric power station that uses underground heat operates only in Kamchatka. But it is possible and necessary to develop high-potential coolants - volcanoes and their derivatives - on the Kuril Islands. To date, on about. Kunashir has explored the Goryachy Beach steam-hydrothermal field, which can provide the city of Yuzhno-Kurilsk with heat and hot water (partially, the steam-water mixture is used to supply heat to the military unit and the greenhouses of the state farm). On about. Iturup explored a similar deposit - Okeanskoye.

It is also important that the South Kuriles are a unique testing ground for the study of geological processes, volcanism, ore formation, the study of giant waves (tsunamis), and seismicity. There is no second such scientific testing ground in Russia. And science, as you know, is a productive force, a fundamental basis for the development of any society.

And how can you call the South Kurils "naked islands" if they are covered with almost subtropical vegetation, where there are many medicinal herbs and berries (aralia, lemongrass, redberry), rivers are rich red fish (chum salmon, pink salmon, sima), do seals, sea lions, seals, sea otters live on the coast, the shallow water is dotted with crabs, shrimps, trepangs, scallops?

Isn't all of the above known in the government, in the Embassy of the Russian Federation in Japan, "our" democrats? I think that the reasoning about the possibility of transferring the South Kuriles to Japan - not from stupidity, but from meanness. Some figures like Zhirinovsky offer to sell our islands to Japan and name specific amounts. Russia sold Alaska cheaply, also considering the peninsula "useless land." And now the United States receives a third of its oil in Alaska, more than half of its gold, and much more. So make a bargain anyway, gentlemen!