By Ma Jie
TOKYO, July 4 (Xinhua) -- Japanese parliament on Friday enacted an amended law claiming that a group of Russian-administered islands off Hokkaido is an "integral part" of Japan, a move many analysts believe will undoubtedly provoke Russia and therefore poses a new hurdle for the settlement of the dispute.
The law passed on Friday is to amend a decades-old previous law that emphasizes Japan's political authority over the disputed islands and is aimed at accelerating campaigning for sovereignty over them.
The four islands, known in Japan as the Northern Territories and in Russia as the Southern Kurils, were once Japanese territories but came under the control of the Soviet Union at the end of World War II when Japan was defeated.
Tokyo has been calling for control of all four islands -- Kunashiri, Etorofu, Shikotan and the Habomai islet group, but Russia argued returning the islands equalizes denying the justification of its role in the war. The dispute has prevented Japan and Russia from signing a bilateral peace treaty since the end of World War II.
In recent years, as the bilateral ties deepens, resources-hungry Japan hoped to attain stable supply of gases and oil from Russia, so that it can reduce its reliance on the Middle East which is frequently disturbed by political turmoils. On the other hand, Russia is eager to explore new markets for its rich resources outside Europe. It also hopes Japan can make an impact on other buyers in the Far East. So the two countries have been trying to solve the territory dispute through diplomatic means to pave way for economic win-win.
Last October, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev told Japanese Prime Minister Taro Aso on the sidelines of the APEC meeting in Lima that the territory issue "can't be handed down to the next generation". In February this year, the two leaders agreed in the Sakhalin islands that the dispute should be solved in a "creative, unconventional" approach, indicating the strong will to settle the row at an early stage.
Most recently, Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said during his visit to Japan in May that the two countries will discuss "every possible option" to resolve the dispute when Medvedev and Aso meet in July.
The bill, which says that Japan will "make the utmost efforts to realize the early return of the islands, which are an integral part of our country", was passed in the parliament at a time when Prime Minister Taro Aso plans to hold a bilateral meeting with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev on the sidelines of a Group of Eight summit in Italy later this month.
Analysts said the timing is carefully deliberated with an aim to thwart the tendency of giving way to Russia.
Back in April, former vice foreign minister Shotaro Yachi proposed a plan that Japan only claims 3.5 of the four islands, and Russia takes the rest 0.5 island which is half of the total four's area. The plan has been slammed by Japanese media, prompting Chief Cabinet Secretary Takeo Kawamura to re-emphasize Japan claims all four islands.
Although Yachi later retracted his remarks, Japanese media and some politicians in the parliament pushed for a tougher stance from the government on the issue. Under this circumstance, the bill passed the upper and lower houses smoothly and efficiently.
Japanese media said the bill is also aimed at raising public awareness of the matter, and promoting the so-called "visa-free exchange programs" between Russian residents of the islands and former Japanese residents and their families.
The Russian Foreign Ministry issued a statement on June 11 condemning the bill's passage through the lower house. On June 24,Russia's parliament also blasted the lower house passage.
When the bill passed the Japanese parliament on Friday, Konstantin Kosachyov, head of the foreign relations committee of the lower house of the Russian parliament, said "it is too bad that Japanese parliamentarians listened neither to the voice of reason, nor to Russia's arguments."
"The situation has definitively entered a dead-end and finding an exit is up to the Japanese themselves," Kosachyov said, quoted by Interfax news agency.
Japanese Foreign Ministry officials have apparently tried to play down the impact of such moves ahead of the summit, stressing that they are simply reiteration of Japan's stance.
"If we don't say so, we would lose the ground on our arguments on the territorial issue," a senior Foreign Ministry official told Kyodo News on condition of anonymity.
Kyodo also said there is a speculation that the beleaguered situation of Aso, with his political clout dwindling ahead of Japan's upcoming House of Representatives election, may affect Russia's stance in the talks.
Local media also widely believed the prospects of progress in the territorial row is bleak during the Group of Eight summit, but it seemed that the Japanese government did not completely give up hope.
"From our side, we expect that there will be some kind of proposal from the Russian side (in the bilateral summit talks)," Foreign Minister Hirofumi Nakasone was quoted by Kyodo News as saying. "We are paying attention to Russia's response."
