“If I say we have found no common ground, so what did we discuss during the five hours then?” Sugiyama told Itar-Tass.
He added he could not go into detail, but said the talks dwelled upon a peace treaty between Russia and Japan.
“We have had an intensive, multifaceted and frank discussion of the issue, including historical and legal aspects,” said Sugiyama.
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s official visit to Moscow last April concluded in an accord to speedup negotiations about the peace treaty and arrange consultations between the two countries’ deputy foreign ministers. The first meeting of this kind followed in August.
http://en.itar-tass.com/russia/717174
1/2/14
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Related:
Russia, Japan prepared to continue talks over peace treaty constructively - Russia FM, Sergei Lavrov.
Japan, Russia hold first diplomatic-defence talks. -The islands, which Japan calls the Northern Territories, but Russia administers as the Southern Kurils.
Japan Scrambles Fighter Jets to Track Russian Bombers
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Shinzo Abe hopes upcoming talks with Putin will strengthen Japan-Russia ties...
ReplyDeleteThe prime minister also said he wanted to use Sochi’s experience in preparations for the Summer Olympics that Tokyo will host in 2020.
TOKYO, February 04. /ITAR-TASS/. Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe sees relations with Russia as very promising and expects to strengthen them further at his upcoming talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Sochi.
“I will attend the Winter Olympics opening ceremony,” the prime minister said during debates at the lower house of parliament’s budget commission. “In my opinion, a new meeting with President Putin will help strengthen our personal relations of trust. I believe relations between Japan and Russia have their biggest potentials at the moment. The situation in Asia and the Pacific Ocean is changing a lot at the moment, and in these conditions the strengthening of ties with Russia not only meets the interests of our countries, but also has major importance for the region,” Shinzo Abe said.
“The upcoming meeting with President Putin in Sochi will be the fifth during my premiership,” he reminded parliamentarians. “We seek to develop cooperation with Russia in all spheres, to improve the general level of relations, which will help us progress also at talks on a peace treaty,” he added....................http://en.itar-tass.com/world/717452
4/2/14
Japan PM charts course to settle Kuril islands dispute....
ReplyDeleteShinzo Abe said he is determined to conclude a post-World War Two peace treaty with Russia.
TOKYO, February 07. /ITAR-TASS/. Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe told a Tokyo rally demanding return of disputed islands to Japan on Friday that he was determined to conclude a post-World War Two peace treaty with Russia and settle the "major problem" of this territorial irritant.
“Striving to develop the whole complex of Japan-Russia relations, I will be determined in talks to finally resolve the issue of the Northern Territories, this major problem in relations with Russia, and a peace treaty." Absence of an agreement to signal the end of wartime hostilities between the two nations was "abnormal", said the leader.
Abe spoke with deliberation, avoiding tart remarks in a brief speech addressing the issue of islands known by Russia as the South Kurils. References to "illegal occupation" or "originally Japanese territories" typical of some Japanese politicians and invariably provoking grievance in Russia were avoided as descriptions of territory disputed since the war ended in 1945.
National rallies of this kind are held annually on February 7 to mark the first Russia-Japan accord signed on this day in 1855. These gatherings are traditionally attended by ministers, ruling party and opposition deputies and former residents of the South Kurils. Similar assemblies are held in other Japanese cities.
http://en.itar-tass.com/world/718014
7/2/14
Japan foreign minister likely to postpone Russia visit.-media...
ReplyDelete(Reuters) - Japan's Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida is likely to postpone a visit to Russia planned for April, Japanese Jiji news agency said on Tuesday citing government sources, as Tokyo's ties with Moscow grow chilly after Russia's seizure of Crimea.
An official at the Russian section of Japan's Foreign Ministry declined to comment on the news.
This comes a day after leaders of the Group of Seven nations, including Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, suspended Russia's participation in the G8, warning Moscow that it faced economic sanctions if President Vladimir Putin takes further action to destabilize Ukraine.
Abe has made better ties between Tokyo and Moscow a priority since returning to power 15 months ago and has met Putin five times, despite a territorial dispute dating from World War Two.
But following Russia's annexation of Crimea, Japan has sided with the United States and its G7 allies. Abe himself condemned the move in parliament and the government suspended talks on an investment pact and the relaxation of visa requirements.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/03/25/us-ukraine-crisis-japan-idUSBREA2O0AR20140325?feedType=RSS&feedName=worldNews
25/3/14
Japan to continue talks with Russia for Ukraine peaceful settlement...
ReplyDeleteJapanese government intends to maintain close synchronization of actions with Group of Seven leading world economies over the current situation around Ukraine, continue talks with Russia and seek for diplomatic solution to today’s problems, Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga told a news conference in the Japanese capital on Tuesday.
“The decisions taken in The Hague do not mean that Russia is excluded from the Group of Eight forever. On the contrary, the G7 states push Russia to seek for diplomatic solution to problems and take responsible decisions. Japan hopes for return to the atmosphere that will permit to hold reasonable discussions in all G8 states. Keeping up synchronization of actions with the G7 states our country seeks for talks with Russia and will perform its role aimed at peaceful, diplomatic settlement of problems,” he noted.
In reply to the question about possible additional sanctions the Japanese chief cabinet secretary noted that this issue would be decided in cooperation with the G7 states. “We should see how Russia will take the G7 statement (adopted in The Hague on March 24),” Suga noted. “Our country has formulated its position clearly that envisages we cannot put up with changes in status quo through the use of force in any way. Japan will respond to current coordination with the G7 states,” he noted.............http://en.itar-tass.com/world/725160
25/3/14
Russia has not been notified of G8 partner plans to postpone bilateral events - Putin's spokesman...
ReplyDeleteRussia has not received any notification from its G8 colleagues concerning the possibility of cancelling or postponing any planned bilateral events at the highest levels, the Russian president's press secretary Dmitry Peskov said. "So far, we do not have any information about our partners' intentions to postpone or cancel these contacts," he said, referring to planned Russian-German consultations at the highest level in April, as well as the Russian president's invitation to attend events in France in June marking the 70th anniversary of the D-Day Landings on the Normandy coast.
Read more: http://voiceofrussia.com/news/2014_03_25/Russia-has-not-been-notified-of-G8-partner-plans-to-postpone-bilateral-events-Putins-spokesman-4240/
25/3/14