The "peace dividend" touted following the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 was a phantom. In view of the recent situation in Ukraine, the United States has begun to instigate recognition that Russia is a major threat following China in East Asia and the Far East. Japan's Liberal Democratic Party administration, which requires the Japan-US security system as an absolute requirement, added Russia as a "country that is changing the status quo by force" that it has used to blame China for the past 10 years, citing the Northern Territories issue as the basis. With the end of the East-West Cold War, in the 1990s, the United States strengthened and expanded Japan-US security in the 1994 "East Asia Strategic Report (EASR)" called the Nye Initiative against the Japanese government, which began to advocate UN centrism. Then, Washington proceeded to 1997 "Redefinition of the Japan-US Alliance". In the process, the two countries issued the 1996 "Japan-US Security Joint Declaration" by the leaders of Japan and the United States. After nearly 20 years, the "common enemy of Russia" has revived in Japan and the United States, as intended. Once put on this propaganda, it is inevitable that Japanese society will be further exhausted due to the dramatic increase in defense spending in the midst of economic decline.
■ Japan is at the forefront of criticism of Russia on the Ukraine issue
Itsunori Onodera, chairman of the Liberal Democratic Party's Security Investigation Committee , appeared on an FNN news program earlier and talked about the situation in Ukraine, which raises military tensions with Russia. "This problem will definitely affect Japan. Without the stance of defending our country, Japan would be similar to Ukraine," he warned.
Yoji Koda, the 36th Chief of Staff of the Self-Defense Fleet (former Chief of Staff), who was introduced as a military expert, said, "If the Ukrainian crisis rises, the United States and Russia will be in a state of immediate action even in the waters near Japan." On top of that, former Defense Minister Onodera instigated on behalf of Japan's security mura.
"Of the G7 (seven major countries), only Japan has been forced to change the status quo by Russia. That is the Northern Territories. Therefore, it is Japan that must criticize Russia most strongly on the Ukraine issue. Russia is now harassing Japan quite a bit. The Okhotsk Sea is deep. There are nuclear submarines lurking there. Attacking in an emergency is the biggest strategy. The United States also breaks through there. In fact, the vicinity of the Chishima Islands is also the main battlefield between the United States and Russia. The Northern Territories issue is not easy considering military matters. The territory will not come back in the discussion. Better. Rather, Japan needs to take a strong stance on the Ukraine issue this time. "
In short, the former defense minister said that the threat of Russia as well as China is imminent in Far East and East Asia, and Russia is poised to attack Japan in the deep sea of Okhotsk without expecting discussions on the Northern Territories issue. He appealed to prepare for the submarine. Ukrainian military tensions have been a great tailwind for the LDP government, which is moving to increase defense spending following Washington's directives. No, the duplication of the threat of Russia in the north, in addition to China, can even be said to be a mercy for the US-Japan security interest group.
By the way, this SDF executive Koda has been invited as a senior researcher at Harvard University Asia Center after retiring. After returning to Japan, he has served as an advisor to ITOCHU Corporation, Japan's Marine United, and the National Security Agency under the Prime Minister. It is one of the standard courses after the retirement of senior SDF personnel in recent years. It would not be necessary to explain where his remarks came from.
■ The theory of "changing the status quo by power" is irrelevant
"Of the G7 (seven major countries), only Japan is undergoing a change in status quo by the power of Russia. It is the Northern Territories." This Onodera remark is a distorted incitement. There was a secret agreement at a meeting between the United States, Britain and the Soviet Union held in Yalta, a resort town in Crimea, in February 1945. It is a secret agreement that the Soviet Union will abolish the Soviet-Japanese Neutrality Treaty and advance into the military against Japan within three months after the surrender of Nazi Germany. In return, the United States and Britain allowed Stalin to occupy the southern half of Sakhalin, which was lost in the Russo-Japanese War, and even the Kuril Islands.
Onodera accused Russia of "changing the status quo by force" based on the postwar Japanese government's claim that the four northern islands of Kunashir, Iturup, Habomai, and Shikotan are not included in the Kuril Islands and are unique to Japan.However, according to the Potsdam Declaration, which Japan accepted when it surrendered unconditionally, the provisions of the Cairo Declaration that "Japan's sovereignty is limited to Honshu, Hokkaido, Kyushu and Shikoku must be fulfilled." The attribution of the small islands around the four major islands must be left to our decision. " Therefore, when the four northern islands were understood to be "small islands in the vicinity" rather than belonging to the Kuril Islands, whether or not they belong to Japan was determined by the United States and Britain who participated in the Cairo Conference in November 1943 . If the United States and Britain had approved the attribution of the four northern islands to the Soviet Union with the consent of Chiang Kai-shek, the allegation that Russia had made the "change of the status quo by force", is a blame for the supporters.
■ Background of Onodera distorted remarks
According to the Japanese side, the Soviet Union, which was trying to occupy the northern half of Hokkaido (Rumoi-Kushiro route) but could not fulfill it, occupied the four northern islands because of its anger. The Japanese government's complaint that the four islands are Japan's own territory, therefore its occupation by Russia violates international law has not been accepted by the international community even 76 years after the war. There is no decisive factor in Japan's unique territorial theory.
As is well known, the United States took advantage of Russia's (Soviet Union) refusal to return Etorofu Island and Kunashiri Island due to the high possibility of establishing a US military base. When the Joint Declaration on the Restoration of Diplomatic Relations between Japan and the Soviet Union was issued in 1956, Washington told the Japanese government, "Don't break the request to return the four islands." Japan was set to conclude a peace treaty with the Russian side and try to compromise on the return of the two islands of Habomai and Shikotan. I put in a sideways. Under the Japan-US Security Treaty system, the Northern Territories issue cannot be resolved forever.
Based on this, Onodera's remarks are intentionally made to attack Russia. Japan must not reconcile with Russia and must constantly position Russia as a threat to the north.
It should be noted that former Defense Minister Onodera has a deep bond with the United States, including serving as a visiting researcher at the Johns Hopkins University Institute for Advanced International Affairs before entering politics.
■ Dating back to the middle of the 19th century at the end of the Edo period
The current situation surrounding Ukraine is linked to the so-called Pax Britannica, which was called the "imperial century" from 1815 to 1914. Britain defeated Russia in the Crimean War (1853-1856), which, along with France, sought to extend its influence to the Balkans. During the Crimean War, Britain also went to contain Russia at the eastern end of Eurasia.
The Crimean War also spread to the Russian Far East on the Pacific side. At the end of August 1854, the combined fleet of the French Navy and the Royal Navy will siege Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, a Russian port and fortress on the Kamchatka Peninsula. The British-French Allied Forces carried out heavy bombardment and landed in September of the same year, but the British-French Allied Forces withdrew at great cost in the land war. (See the figure below)
In parallel with this battle, Russia had Vice Admiral Yevfimi Putyatin in negotiations to open the country with Japan. Putyatin left Russia before the start of the war and arrived in Nagasaki in August 1853 to begin diplomatic negotiations. In January 1855, the Japan-Russia Friendship Peace Treaty was signed.
Meanwhile, the Royal Navy, led by Commander of the East India Squadron of China, James Stirling, arrived in Nagasaki in September 1854. Russia's Putyatin fleet had already left Nagasaki, but Sterling warned the Shogunate that Britain and Russia were at war and that Russia had territorial ambitions for Sakhalin and the Kuril Islands.
After signing the Convention of Kanagawa in 1854, the United States stayed in Hakodate, which was opened by the US fleet of Perry, for half a month, and monitored Russia, which had advanced to Hakodate in search of an ice-free port. Hakodate, where Britain called 13 ships by far, became the first place in Japan for the US-UK-Russia entanglement.
■ Japan joins NATO and allies with the United Kingdom
In the midst of the Crimean War, which can be rephrased as the war in Ukraine, Britain began to use Japan as a piece to exclude Russia from the Far East, and eventually signed the Anglo-Japanese Alliance (1902-1923). Today, the United States and Britain are leading the confrontation with Putin-Russia through the eastern expansion of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). On the other hand, in the Far East and East Asia, the US-UK Anglo-Saxon Alliance has begun to use Japan not only as a vanguard of the Chinese siege network, but also to contain Russia.
In the last decade, Japan has become a de facto NATO member, and the United Kingdom is becoming Japan's military ally after the United States. Japan's security interest groups are only automatically capturing the intentions of the United States and Britain and fueling the threat of Russia.
The era of colonial rule and imperialism ended in the 20th century. Ironically, however, in the 21st century, nearly 170 years after the outbreak of the Crimean War, there have been no major changes in the world's power balance and conflict maps. The confrontation between the Anglo-American block and the Russian-Chinese block has created unprecedented military tensions over supremacy in the Eurasian continent and the Pacific Ocean. Russia's military invasion of Ukraine has fundamentally destroyed the post-WWII UN-led international order. It means the decisive division of the United Nations (UN) into the US-UK block and the China-Russia block, and the resurrection of a bipolarly opposed world.
【note]】The two figures below show that Russia in the early 20th century was surrounded by Britain from the south from Central Asia to East Asia. To some extent, Britain could have tolerated that Japan, which became an ally in 1902, locked out Russia, which had expanded its sphere of influence to northeastern China (Manchuria), and formed its own sphere of interest there.
[note]
The yellow part is British territory and British sphere of influence