JAPAN SEEKS SAKHALIN

Press, Volume XCII, Issue 27735, 12 August 1955, Page 11

JAPAN SEEKS SAKHALIN

Clause In Treaty With Soviet (N.Z. Press Association—Copyright) (Rec. 10 p.m.) TOKYO, Aug. 11. Japan is attempting to get from the Soviet Union a commitment to withdraw Russian forces from Sakhalin and the Kuriles, south of the 50th parallel, according to several similar newspaper accounts of the draft Japan-Soviet treaty, published today. Official sources will not confirm newspaper versions of the Japanese draft. But several newspapers had the same version and attributed it to official sources. One clause says, according to the newspapers: “The entire occupying forces of the U.S.S.R. on the southern Sakhalin and Kuriles, including the Habemai and Shilotan Islands, shall withdraw from those places within 90 days after the entry into force of the treaty.” In most published versions the draft did not appear to make any provision for the installation of any alternative government or control should the Russians withdraw. One newspaper said there was provision in the draft for writing in a definition of the boundary line to be established between Jppan and the Soviet Union. The newspaper which reported this provision said it was believed that Japan would demand that the line‘should be set at the 50th parallel.