JCP Shii speaks to national rally calling for return of 'Northern Territories'

Japanese Communist Party Chair Shii Kazuo spoke at the annual rally calling for return of the Russian-held Northern Territories on February 7 in Tokyo, the full text of which is as follows:

First, I want to express my deep respect to all of you who have been endeavoring to get Japan's historical territory returned to Japan. I'm determined to make further efforts to achieve this goal.

In seeking the resolution of the territorial question with Russia, it is more important than anything else that Japan firmly stands for the Japanese people's demand as a cause acceptable to the Russian people and the international community. The 'cause' here is to correct Stalin's violation of the principle of territorial non-expansion.

During WWII, the former Soviet Union under Stalin annexed three Baltic countries, robbed China of its Northeast regional rights and interests, and annexed the Chishima Islands. This was in flagrant violation of the basic principle of "territorial non-expansion" the allies had to obey in postwar settlements.

Of these lawless acts, only the Chishima Islands question remains unsettled.

I want to stress that the territorial negotiations with Russia should be based not on the Yalta Agreement that allowed the handing over of the Chishima Islands to Russia or the San Francisco Peace Treaty's clause on Japan's renunciation of the Chishima Islands, but on the principle that Stalin's violation of "territorial non-expansion' needs to be justly corrected.

Not only Habomai and Shikotan Islands, both historically part of Hokkaido, but also the whole of the Chishima Islands, from Etorofu and Kunashiri Islands (in the South) to Uruppu and Shumushu Islands (in the North), are historical territory of Japan as agreed upon peacefully in the 1875 Sakhalin-Chishima Exchange Treaty. It is therefore important for Japan to use the territorial talks with Russia to demand the return of the Chishima Islands.

I want to conclude my statement by assuring you that the Japanese Communist Party will make every effort to achieve a just resolution of the territorial question. (end)