Towards an Anti-Japanese Territorial Front? Russia and the Senkaku/Diaoyu Dispute

Abstract

This article examines Russia's position on the Senkaku/Diaoyu dispute. It focuses particularly on the claim that Russia and China are forming an anti-Japanese territorial front. Looking closely at official statements and actions, as well as Russian-language media and scholarship, it finds that Russia, while retaining a position of formal neutrality, clearly considers China's claims more favourably. While this could be seen to have alarming implications by arraying China and Russia on one side against Japan and the USA on the other, the article also finds that Russia's support is not without qualifications and that its place in the conflict is not yet entrenched.

Notes

¹ The islands are also claimed by Taiwan.

² The name of the island is Kunashir in Russian and Kunashiri in Japanese.

³ See, China Institute of International Studies, available at: http://www.ciis.org.cn/english/2011-08/08/content_4389827.htm, accessed 11 May 2013.

⁴ Further to the CIIS proposal, in February 2014 Japanese newspapers reported that since 2010 the Chinese government itself had repeatedly proposed to the Russian side that the two cooperate in addressing their territorial disputes with Japan (‘Chūgoku: “Hoppōryōdo to Senkaku no sōgo shōnin” Ro ni dashin’, Mainichi Shinbun, 6 February 2014).

⁵ ‘Senkakushotō no Nihon henkan meguru Amerika no rokuon kiroku’, NHK, 7 June 2013, available at: http://www3.nhk.or.jp/news/html/20130607/k10015132821000.html, accessed 7 June 2013.

⁶ ‘Experts Expect Closer China–Russia Ties as Putin Regains Presidency’, Xinhua, 7 May 2012, available at: http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/china/2012-05/07/c_123091125.htm, accessed 14 June 2013; ‘China–Russia Trade Volume to Hit 100 bln USD in 2014’, Xinhua, 14 June 2013, available at: http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/china/2013-06/14/c_132456315.htm, accessed 14 June 2013.

⁷ ‘China–Russia Trade Volume to Hit 100 bln USD in 2014’, Xinhua, 14 June 2013, available at: http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/china/2013-06/14/c_132456315.htm, accessed 14 June 2013.

⁸ ‘Experts Expect Closer China–Russia Ties as Putin Regains Presidency’, Xinhua, 7 May 2012, available at: http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/china/2012-05/07/c_123091125.htm, accessed 14 June 2013.

⁹ ‘Speech and the Following Discussion at the Munich Conference on Security Policy’, The Kremlin, 10 February 2007, available at: http://archive.kremlin.ru/eng/speeches/2007/02/10/0138_type82912type82914type82917type84779_118123.shtml, accessed 18 February 2014.

¹⁰ ‘Russians See CIS, China as Russia's Chief Foreign-policy Partners—Poll’, Interfax, 28 April 2013, available at: http://russialist.org/russians-see-cis-china-as-russias-chief-foreign-policy-partners-poll/, accessed 28 June 2013.

¹¹ ‘Diaoyu Dao: An Inherent Territory of China’, State Council Information Office White Paper, 2012, available at: http://english.gov.cn/archive/white_paper/2014/08/23/content_281474983043212.htm, accessed 11 May 2015.

¹² ‘Japan–China Relations: Current Situation of Senkaku Islands’, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan, May 2013, available at: http://www.mofa.go.jp/region/asia-paci/senkaku/, accessed 11 July 2013.

¹³ ‘Aktsiya “Drugoi Rossii”: Khokkaido—russkii ostrov!’, Drugaya Rossiya, 19 June 2013, available at: http://drugros.ru/news/3497.html, accessed 16 July 2013.

¹⁴ ‘Otvet ofitsial'nogo predstavitelya MID Rossii A.K. Lukashevicha na vopros “RIA Novosti”’, Ministerstvo Inostrannykh Del Rossii, 23 May 2013, available at: http://www.mid.ru/brp_4.nsf/newsline/B3AEC7685D5282A944257B74003C989E, accessed 18 July 2013.

¹⁵ ‘“Sengo no chitsujo mamoru beki” shijin pin shuseki roshia kouen de senkaku mondai, nihon wo kensei’, Sankei Shinbun, 23 March 2013, available at: http://sankei.jp.msn.com/world/news/130323/chn13032320240006-n1.htm, accessed 18 July 2013.

¹⁶ ‘Yaponiya postroila samyi bol'shoi so vremen Vtoroi mirovoi korabl'’, Lenta.ru, 6 August 2013, available at: http://lenta.ru/news/2013/08/06/japan/, accessed 15 August 2013.

¹⁷ See ‘Chetyre kitaiskikh sudna voshli v akvatoriyu spornykh ostrovov Dyaoyuidao’, ITAR-TASS, 4 March 2013, available at: https://news.mail.ru/politics/12208470/, accessed 11 May 2015; Ostroukhov (2013).

¹⁸ ‘Kitai i Rossiya gotovyatsya k sovmestnym morskim ucheniyam’, NHK World, 5 July 2013.

¹⁹ ‘KNR i Rossiiskaya Federatsiya provodyat sovmestnye voenno-morskie ucheniya v Yaponskom more’, NHK World, 6 July 2013.

²⁰ Dokdo is the group of islets in the Sea of Japan controlled by South Korea but claimed by Japan as Takeshima.