JCP Shii sends message to convention calling 'return of northern territories'

Japanese Communist Party Chair Shii Kazuo sent a message to the "National Convention calling for the Return of Northern Territories" held on February 7 ("Northern Territories Day) in Tokyo to which Matsumoto Zenmei, JCP Dietmembers group chair, attended. The message said:

I want to extend my resolution that the JCP will further cooperate with you so that the legitimate demand of the Japanese people will be met.

The recent Russo-Japan territorial controversy indicates that neither unilateral concessions nor tricky diplomatic efforts meant a step toward a fair solution of the territorial issue.

Responsible to this Russo-Japan territorial issue were the former Soviet Union for having unjustifiably demanded Japan's cession of the Chishima Islands to it under the Yalta Treaty, ignoring the principle of territorial non-expansion, the United States and Great Britain for having approved this, and the Japanese government for having declared to renounce its territorial rights to these islands under the San Francisco Peace Treaty.

Not to speak of Habomai and Shikotan islands, which are part of Hokkaido Prefecture, the entire Chishima (Kurile) Islands, from Kunashiri and Etorofu islands in the south to Shumushu Island in the north are historically part of Japan under the 1875 Sakhalin-Chishima Exchange Treaty, a product achieved through peaceful negotiations.

We must be free from this erroneous postwar disposition in the 20th century. It is indispensable for us to correct this, and to squarely call for the return of the islands.

The need now is for us to establish Japan's diplomacy based on international law that will help convince the Russian people of our righteousness, and also help gain a major public support for this aim. (end)