International ties

Japan should restrain its expansionist appetite

By Wang Hui (chinadaily.com.cn)
Updated: 2010-11-05 09:09

Japan's ongoing disputes over maritime territories with China and Russia testify to the island country's growing ambition to expand its maritime influence. If it does not curb its expansionist appetite, it will have to taste the bitter fruit of its endeavors sooner or later.

While Japan's disputes with China over the Diaoyu Islands in the South China Sea still remain unsettled, it has also had spats with Russia over four Pacific islands. On Wednesday, Japan temporarily recalled its ambassador to Russia in protest at Russian President Dmitry Medvedev's visit to one of four Russian islands also claimed by Japan.

In a move intended to reinforce Russia's sovereignty over the islands, Medvedev visited Kunashiri Island on Monday. Russia's claim over the four Pacific islands is based on firm legal grounds.

The four islands, which are called the Southern Kurils in Russia and the Northern Territories in Japan, were handed over to the Soviet Union to enlist its support for the war against Japan under the 1945 Yalta Agreement. Naturally, Russia inherited the ownership of the islands from the Soviet Union after its collapse.

However, Japan has never relinquished its ambition to claim sovereignty over the four islands. Its territorial dispute over the islands has been a long-term thorn in relations between Japan and Russia, and has prevented the two countries from signing a peace treaty since the end of World War II.

For Japan, entangling itself with Russia over the Pacific islands is not only irrational; it also has no legal basis.

Similarly, Japan's territorial claims over the Diaoyu Islands are without foundation. China holds indisputable historical evidence that shows that the Diaoyu Islands in the East China Sea have been Chinese territory since ancient times.

In recent years, driven by its growing maritime ambition, Japan has sought to strengthen its illegal possession of the Diaoyu Islands step by step.

Judging from the rights and wrongs of these territorial disputes, both instigated by Japan, any righteous person must undoubtedly arrive at the conclusion that Japan is the real troublemaker in East Asia.

The ascendancy of rightists in Japan, who have been clamoring for the country's expansion of maritime influence, could be one of the driving forces behind the country's provocative moves.

Given its close relationship with the United States, Japan may be also counting on the United States to help it win an upper hand in these disputes. This is another miscalculation.

China has already rejected the possibility of any US involvement in the disputes over the Diaoyu Islands and the Foreign Ministry has condemned the US' claim that the Diaoyu Islands fall within the scope of the US-Japan Treaty of Mutual Cooperation and Security.

Japan should understand that engaging itself in protracted diplomatic wars with neighbors is ill advised and could be costly.