The leaders of Russia and Japan will meet on the sidelines of a regional summit, where talks are certain to be dominated by their latest flare-up over islands both claim.
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev infuriated Tokyo by visiting one of the islands — called the Southern Kuriles in Russia and the Northern Territories in Japan — on Nov. 1, ahead of this weekend’s APEC summit in Yokohama, Japan.
The Soviet Union occupied the four islands at the end of World War II and the territorial row has weighed on relations between Tokyo and Moscow ever since, preventing the signing of a formal peace treaty.
“The timing [of the talks with Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan] is still being agreed. They will discuss the Russian-Japanese relationship,” Medvedev spokeswoman Natalya Timakova told reporters.
She said the Russian position on the disputed islands had not changed and that Japan traditionally raises the territorial dispute issue at such meetings.
Medvedev’s trip to the island has prompted the two sides to put off signing a memorandum on economic cooperation that had been planned at an investment forum in Tokyo yesterday, Kyodo news agency reported.
The memorandum would have reaffirmed existing plans for cooperation and efforts to boost trade and investment, it said.
“The [Russian] president’s move was one that trampled on the feelings of the Japanese people,” Japanese Trade Minister Akihiro Ohata was quoted as saying in parliament.
Separately, the Nikkei Shimbun business daily reported on Thursday that an agreement between the Japanese government and Russia’s gas giant Gazprom on a liquefied natural gas project has been delayed after the head of Gazprom canceled a trip to Japan.
Japanese Foreign Minister Seiji Maehara has said that a visit by Medvedev to the islands would “severely harm” relations. Moscow has said Medvedev plans more visits to the islands.
Russia’s foreign ministry responded that Japan’s claim to the islands, which stretch northeast from Japan’s main northern island of Hokkaido to Russia’s Kamchatka Peninsula, was a “dead-end.”
The islands are close to oil and gas production regions of Russia, but most people live off fishing and Japan, a major fish consumer, would gain rich fishing grounds.
Japan is also embroiled in a territorial dispute with China after Japan detained the skipper of a Chinese fishing boat after it collided with coast guard ships near disputed isles in the East China Sea. He was later released and sent home.
The Japanese government’s handling of the two disputes has been heavily criticized at home and been a factor in the recent sharp fall in its support ratings.
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