TOKYO (AP) – Japan describes four islands whose ownership it disputes with Moscow as “illegally occupied by Russia” in the latest version of a diplomatic report released on Friday, using stronger language to describe the territorial omission than other recent versions and highlighting the cooled relations between the two countries against the background of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
The description in the Diplomatic Blue Book for 2022, an annual report on Japan’s foreign policy issued by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, uses this phrase for the first time in nearly two decades. Japan, which is struggling to improve ties with Moscow to regain control of the Kurils, which Tokyo calls the Northern Territories, has previously described the dispute in a softer tone.
“The northern territories are a group of islands over which Japan has sovereignty and are an integral part of Japan’s territory, but they are currently illegally occupied by Russia,” the ministry said in a statement.
The dispute over the Russian-held islands, which the former Soviet Union seized from Japan at the end of World War II, has prevented the two countries from signing a peace treaty that officially ends their hostilities.
The report last used a similar term in 2003, but softened its wording until last year, when it described the dispute as “the biggest concern between Japan and Russia” and noted that “Japan has sovereignty” over the islands.
In another territorial dispute, the ministry said the island, which Japan calls Takeshima, was “illegally occupied” by Seoul, which it calls Dokdo.
South Korea’s foreign ministry has protested against Japan’s “repeated inclusion of unjust claims to Tokdo sovereignty”, calling the island an integral part of South Korean territory. It says Tokyo’s repeated allegations are “in no way conducive to efforts to establish future-oriented relations between the two countries.” Ties between Japan and South Korea are also strained by historical problems.
Japan has joined other Group of Seven countries in imposing a series of sanctions on Russia. Tokyo is taking on a bigger role in international efforts against Russia because of fears about the impact of the invasion of East Asia, where the Chinese military is becoming increasingly insistent.
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Japan is already facing repression from Russia, which recently announced a halt to peace talks with Tokyo, which includes talks on the disputed islands.
Japan is also seeking to strengthen its defense capacity and budget as part of a key revision of Japan’s national security strategy expected later this year.
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AP writer Kim Tong-hyung from Seoul, South Korea, contributed to this report.
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