Suzuki Muneo's secret territory talks with Russia exposed by JCP

The Japanese Communist Party has exposed another bombshell regarding the misconduct of Suzuki Muneo, who recently quit the ruling Liberal Democratic Party over alleged irregularities.

At a news conference on March 19, JCP Executive Committee Chair Shii Kazuo revealed a document detailing Suzuki's secret meeting with Russian government officials. In that meeting, Suzuki presented the Russians with a view which is different from what the Japanese government has officially stated on the Japan-Russia territorial question.

The document is the Foreign Ministry record of a meeting between Suzuki (Liberal Democratic Party General Affairs Bureau director at the time) and Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander P. Losyukov.

Shii said that it is serious that Japan's foreign policy has been on the double-track in dealing with territorial talks with Russia.

He said that he received the transcript of the March 2001 Suzuki-Losyukov meeting from an anonymous person. In a note attached to the document, the sender stated that this "copy of the document had been kept by Sato Masaru, former senior analyst of the Foreign Ministry."

In that meeting, Suzuki criticized Japan's government leaders for demanding that four Russian-held northern islands (Etorofu, Kunashiri, Habomai, and Shikotan) be returned at once.

Suzuki tried to present himself as a politician flexible enough to put forward an idea that two islands (Habomai and Shikotan) might be returned first, adding that this was an official Japanese government proposal.

In the meeting with Losyukov, Suzuki repeatedly requested that then Prime Minister Mori Yoshiro and Russian President Vladimir V. Putin in talks in Irkutsk in March 2001 confirm the effectiveness of the 1956 Japan-Soviet Joint Declaration. In the 1956 declaration, the then Soviet Union expressed a willingness to hand over Habomai and Shikotan islands after the conclusion of a peace treaty between Japan and the Soviet Union. In Irkutsk, Mori and Putin issued a declaration stating that the 1956 declaration is a basic legal document.

Pointing out that the Russian government has officially stated that the territorial question will be settled with the return of these two islands, Shii said that treating the 1956 Joint Declaration as a basic legal document will make it impossible for Japan to unconditionally claim its sovereignty over Habomai and Shikotan islands. It will also allow Russia to call off territorial talks after the return of these two islands, Shii added.

Blaming Suzuki for distorting Japan's diplomacy and damaging Japan's national interest, Shii demanded that Prime Minister Koizumi Jun'ichiro investigate into the matter and that Suzuki be summoned to the Diet as a sworn witness. (end)