Japanese Islands Issue Remains

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31123, 28 July 1966, Page 17

Japanese Islands Issue Remains

(N.Z.PA. Reuter—Copyright) TOKYO, July 27. At the talks in Tokyo, the Soviet Foreign Minister, Mr Andrei Gromyko, rejected the request of the Japanese Prime Minister, Mr Eisaku Sato, that the Soviet Union give favourable consideration to the territorial issue pending for 10 years between the two countries.

Mr Sato told Mr Gromyko that Japan had no territorial ambition but that the Japanese people felt their attachment to the northern Pacific islands of Habomai, Shikotan, Etorofu and Kunashiri, traditionally part of Japan’s home islands. However, Mr Gromyko said, Soviet policy towards the islands remained unchanged, the spokesman said. The Soviet Union has promised to return Habomai and Shikotan Islands to Japan at the signing of a peace treaty between the two nations, but she views the two other islands as a question which has already been settled. Friendly, Candid Mr Sato told Mr Gromyko that his government would study a Soviet proposal for the use of Japanese fishing ports in return for considering Japan’s demand for assuring the safety of Japanese fishermen operating in the

northern Pacific, according to the spokesman. They also agreed to expand trade between the two countries. They did not touch on China, according to the spokesman. The spokesman described the atmosphere of the talks as friendly but candid.