The Wall Street Journal has an article today that tells the story Russia's new oil pipelines in Siberia. Yesterday President Putin announced that Russia is going to build a new pipeline that will go to China, and only later will the pipeline reach Russia's Pacific Coast. “The Daqing pipeline will be built first, but we’ll also build to Nakhodka,” said Putin.
Chinese-Russian relations have incredibly improved in the past few years, and Russia's arms industry has been kept alive by Chinese orders. The WSJ also notices that Russian-Japanese relations seem to be gridlocked. Japan still wants to get the Kurile Islands back, and Russia constantly says “No”. Pursuing this unreal dream, Japan starts losing points in what could’ve been one its best economic opportunities in recent years. Though China is still nominally socialist and Russia is a very young democracy, business is business, and capitalism directs money to places where business is easy, profitable and safe. The Chinese have won this round big time.
The Kurile Islands belonged to the Russian Empire from the late 17th century until they were conquered by the Japanese in 1905. After the victory in World War II, Russians got the islands back, and everything seemed to be just right. However, 40 years of occupation planted a lot of nationalist dreams in Japan. Russia and Japan never signed the peace treaty, so technically speaking, Russia and Japan are still officially in a state of war. This is the last problem Japan needs when its only true friend in the world remains the U.S., while China exploits atrocities from sixty years ago to stoke anti-Japanese xenophobia in the present.
So who is right and who is wrong - and who really owns the islands? The first geographic note of the Kurile Islands appear in Russian accounts as early as 1646. Later, in the 18th and 19th centuries, the Kuriles were explored and developed by Russian settlers. Today the Kurile Islands are home to 30,000 Russian people.
Japan is trying to play the socialism card of sharing and giving away - kind of a Robin Hood idea; if you have too much land, and somebody else doesn’t, though really wants it, you must share. I’m sure there will be some people who would say that Russia is already the biggest country in the world, while Japan is struggling without enough space. Give up the islands!
However, the Kurile Islands are much more than just a piece of land in the ocean. The strategic location of the islands makes Russia into a harbored navy power. Russian bases on the Kuriles provide early warning for Russia's East Coast from potential “invaders” and tsunamis. The islands also serve as a base for lucrative commercial fishing.
Almost weekly Japanese boats are caught illegally fishing in Russian waters. Many times they are pursued by military planes and the Russian navy. Sometimes they are getting shot at, and some people have been killed. However, all this doesn’t stop the Japanese from pretending that the islands are theirs. There is enormous Japanese propaganda invasion of the islands as well. The Japanese distribute CD’s and tapes, targeting school children, delivering the cry for “help”. “The Islands are ours” say tapes over and over again.
I believe that the islands are purely Russian, not just because I’m Russian myself, but because not a single country in the world since World War II has supported the Japanese claim, while history and geography proves the Russian ownership.
People who are not aware of the situation find it almost surreal, ones they learn it. Anyway, while Japanese government is chasing the dream, Japanese businesses lose access to cheaper oil and better cooperation from neighboring countries.
