A few hundred kilometers north of Hokkaido in Japan, there are four small islands called Zokei, Sedan, Tochomai, and Kokugo. These four islands are small in size, but because of their extremely important location, they have always been the subject of fierce competition between Japan and Russia.
Japan wanted to get them back, but Russia refused to let go of them, and there is no sign of a solution to this long-lasting dispute, which has been going on since 1644. What’s so special about the four northern islands?
In 1644, Japan was still under the rule of the Tokugawa Shogunate. At that time, Japan’s Hokkaido had just begun to develop, and a Hokkaido official took a brush and drew a map. As he drew, he realized that there were four more islands to the north of Hokkaido, so he marked these four islands on the map and wrote the words “Japanese Territory”.
These four islands are the ones we are talking about today, namely, Zelkova, Sedan, Tochomai, and Kokugo. That’s the problem. The Japanese drew the maps, but they didn’t manage them. There was no one to take care of the indigenous people on the islands, nor did the Japanese send any officials to the islands, and as a result, these four islands became Japanese territories with name but without reality.
In the middle of the 19th century, Tsarist Russia began to focus on these four islands. In the mid-19th century, the Czarist Russians began to focus on these four islands. In those days, the Czarist Russians were engaged in oceanic expansion, and they occupied the islands wherever they could find resources, and they forced the indigenous people on the islands to join the Russian citizenship.
Later, in 1855, Japan and Russia finally sat down and negotiated a treaty of peace between Japan and Russia, agreeing that these four islands belonged to Japan and the rest of the country belonged to Russia. Japan was quite happy at that time, thinking that it had finally got the islands back.
The Russians signed the treaty, but they had no intention of honoring it. The Russians continued to station troops on the islands and manage them, and even engaged in fisheries and mineral exploitation, pretending that the land belonged to them in the first place. The Japanese side was very anxious, but they couldn’t beat them, so they could only stare at them.
In the Second World War, Japan was finally beaten to death because of its invasion of war criminals. The United States dropped two atomic bombs and Japan directly announced its surrender. Seeing the opportunity, the Soviet Union sent troops to occupy the four northern islands and told Japan that the land would be ours from now on!
After occupying the four islands, the USSR directly kicked out the Japanese fishermen and set up military bases on the islands, using them as their strategic defense line.
Why does the Soviet Union value these four islands so much? There are two reasons There are tons of coal, iron, gold, silver and even rare rhenium ore here. Moreover, it was also a world-famous fishing ground, with dense fish stocks and a huge catch.
Especially on the island of Kokugo, there’s a natural unfrozen harbor on the east coast where warships can be moored all year round. For the Soviet Union, this place is a heavenly military fortress, how can it be surrendered to Japan?
Time came to 1991, the collapse of the Soviet Union, Russia took over the legacy of the Soviet Union. Japan looked at the opportunity!
At that time, Japan thought that with the Soviet Union gone, Russia should be willing to return the four islands to me, right? Russia’s new president, Boris Yeltsin, stated that the four northern islands were Russia’s, and that there would be no negotiations.
Since then, Japan has been negotiating with Russia every year, but no progress has been made. Then Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe came to power and directly put the return of the four northern islands into his own goal of governance, but the result is that after eight years of frustration, nothing has been achieved.
On international occasions, Japan often pulls our country into line, hoping that our country will support them in getting back the four islands.
As a result, our Ministry of Foreign Affairs has responded in a very firm manner that this is an issue between Japan and Russia, and our country does not interfere.
When Japan heard this, its face turned green. This wave of speeches directly rendered Japan speechless. Is it possible for the four northern islands to return to Japan or not? To be honest, it is basically impossible.
This dispute will have to continue to be argued. Maybe in another 100 years, Japan will still be screaming for the return of the four northern islands! And Russia’s answer will still be, “Dream on.
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