Abe to Discuss Territorial Row with Putin in Singapore

November 12, 2018

Tokyo--Prime Minister Shinzo Abe will discuss a bilateral territorial dispute with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Singapore, the first stop of the Japanese leader's five-day Asia-Pacific tour from Wednesday.

The focal point of the bilateral summit meeting is placed on whether Abe can make any progress in negotiations on the dispute over four Russian-held northwestern Pacific islands claimed by Japan, observers said.

Abe will attend summit meetings related to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations in Singapore that will be held between Sunday and Thursday and a summit of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum in Papua New Guinea on Nov. 17-18. He will also visit Australia.

At an economic forum in the Russian Far East city of Vladivostok in September, Putin proposed, in the presence of Abe, that Tokyo and Moscow sign a peace treaty by the end of this year without any conditions, expressing a stance of postponing a solution to the territorial dispute.

Abe told Putin that Japan cannot accept the offer when the two watched a judo competition held soon after the economic forum.

The territorial row has prevented the two sides from concluding a peace treaty to formally end their World War II hostilities. The islands were seized from Japan by Soviet troops in the closing days of the war.

After returning home from Vladivostok, Abe said he takes Putin's abrupt proposal as an expression of his "eagerness" to conclude a peace treaty with Japan, indicating hopes to make progress in negotiations on the territorial dispute at two envisaged summits this year, including the one in Singapore.

But the negotiations could be tough as Putin has signaled no intention of making any concessions, observers said.

Abe is also arranging meetings with Chinese President Xi Jinping and Premier Li Keqiang, who are expected to participate in the ASEAN and APEC meetings, hoping to improve bilateral ties.

South Korean President Moon Jae-in plans to join the meetings as well, but many Japanese government officials are negative about holding a Japan-South Korea summit this time as Seoul has not shown any moves to correct what Japanese officials see as a violation of international law over the issue of former requisitioned South Korean workers in Japan.

In late October, South Korea's Supreme Court issued a ruling in favor of such workers in a damages lawsuit.

In Australia, Abe will hold talks with his Australian counterpart, Scott Morrison, to confirm that the two countries will strengthen national security cooperation.

Abe hopes to promote his free and open Indo-Pacific region strategy at the Japan-Australia summit and other summit meetings during the tour.Jiji Press