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Russia Wants to Push Ahead on Peace Treaty with Japan: Putin
Russia will push on to resolve the territorial problem and to sign a peace treaty with Japan, Russian President Vladimir Putin confirmed on the eve of his first official visit to Japan, slated for September 3-5.
"At the recent top-level meeting in Krasnoyarsk, the sides agreed to bend the maximum effort to sign a peace treaty by the year 2000," the Interfax news agency Friday quoted Putin as telling the Japanese newspaper Asahi in an interview.
"We needn't be persuaded about the importance of such a decision. We will undoubtedly continue talks on the peace treaty,"he said.
Asked whether the unresolved border dispute and the absence of a peace treaty would become an obstacle to the further advancement of bilateral relations, Putin said relations between the two countries "cannot be based only on sorting out old problems."
"I am convinced that it is more productive to view the territorial problem not as something that separates us but something that may unite us. There should be no doubts: we sincerely want to give a new nature of partnership to the relations with Japan," Putin said.
"The nature of relations between Russia and Japan is directed at the distant future. That is why we are earnestly interested in resolving the problem inherited by our countries from the past," he stressed.
The Russian president said his meetings with Japanese Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori earlier this year have proved that the leaders of both states intend to cherish everything positive achieved in bilateral ties and realize their strategic importance for the countries.
Putin noted that the bilateral relations have grown so strong in the past few years that "even problems inherited from the past and not fully resolved so far cannot hinder their successful development."
He expressed satisfaction with the fact that Russia and Japan "are entering the new millennium as friendly countries."
The approaches of Moscow and Tokyo to international affairs largely coincide, he said, adding that the foundation for successful bilateral cooperation, primarily in international affairs, was created through the trustful dialogue of their leaders launched in the second half of the 1990s.
"Security issues, primarily in Northeast Asia, still remain in the foreground. The appearance of reassuring tendencies in the inter-Korean settlement makes this work even more topical," Putin said.
"We also hope that Japan understands how closely the processes of the limitation of strategic offensive armaments and preservation of strategic stability are connected with the observation of the 1972 Russian-American Anti-Ballistic Missile treaty," he continued.
Putin also recognized the possibilities for intensifying bilateral economic cooperation.
He singled out the joint development of oil and gas fields off the shore of Sakhalin Island, the projects of the Kovykta gas condensate field and Yakutia gas field, and the construction of gas mains from Russia to Japan.
"I also find interesting and promising the idea of building a Russia-Japan power bridge," Putin said, adding that the two sides are drafting several agreements and documents on trade and economic cooperation for his Tokyo visit.
"I hope that these understandings will permit a significant step forward in advancing mutually beneficial economic relations and further promote Russian-Japanese relations as a whole," the president concluded.
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