The following is from an article by Mineo Nakajima, President of Akita International University, which appeared in the Hanada Selection, a monthly magazine now on sale, entitled "The Normalization of Diplomatic Relations Between Japan and China" was a mistake. ["WiLL"] (edited by Kazuyoshi Hanada, responsible for the October 2012 issue)
It is a must-read for the people of Japan and the rest of the world.
Breaking off relations with Taiwan is a historic mistake.
The forthcoming September 29, 2012, marks the 40th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between Japan and China. Still, the Japanese government severed diplomatic ties with Taiwan (the Republic of China) on that day as compensation for the diplomatic relations between Japan and China.
Specifically, at the same time as a joint Sino-Japanese statement by then Prime Minister Kakuei Tanaka and Foreign Minister Masayoshi Ohira in Beijing, Foreign Minister Ohira announced the end of the Treaty of Taipei.
The preamble of the Treaty of Taipei, signed in Taipei on April 28, 1952, reads, "In view of the historical and cultural ties and geographical proximity," which not only confirmed the end of the war between Japan and the Republic of China but also stated that the treaty would promote friendship and goodwill between the two countries, making it the most critical bilateral commitment of any agreement that our country had ever made.
As for the deep historical and cultural ties and geographical proximity to Taiwan, as we have seen in the preamble to the treaty here, it is needless to say that our country had maintained formal diplomatic relations with Taiwan (Republic of China) with the Treaty of Taipei, but we unilaterally severed them.
President Chiang Ching-kuo wrote "Heartbreak Chronicles" in the October 1972 issue of Bungeishunju at the time of the breakup of diplomatic relations between Japan and China. It must be said aptly.
Despite this past, the current Taiwanese administration of President Ma Ying-jeou held a ceremony in Taipei on August 5 to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the Treaty of Taipei's entry into force.
In addition to his intention to compete with China for the territorial rights to the Senkaku Islands, Ma undeniably intended to demonstrate a difference of opinion with former President Lee Teng-hui, who has stated clearly that the Senkaku Islands are Japan's exclusive territory.
For Taiwan (Republic of China), the Treaty of Taipei was a crucial player in post-war East Asian politics.
As a researcher on the Sino-Soviet confrontation, I have often spoken out on the Northern Territories issue from the standpoint of criticizing the Treaty of Peace and Friendship between Japan and China, which was signed in 1978 and included a "hegemony clause."
I argued at the time that the time of the severe confrontation between China and the Soviet Union was the right time to resolve the Northern Territories issue and that Japan should claim sovereignty over the four islands of the Northern Territories, but for the time being realize the return of Habomai and Shikotan, and bring the four Northern Territories, including Etorofu and Kunashiri, into joint use.
However, the Japanese government and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs at the time, in keeping with its postwar diplomatic practice of being "soft on China and hard on the Soviet Union," accepted China's insistence and concluded the Treaty of Peace and Friendship between Japan and China, which angered the Soviet Union and resulted in no success in diplomacy with the Soviet Union.
Prime Minister Takeo Fukuda himself was quite cautious in the Fukuda administration at the time, but also because of the hasty diplomatic stance of Foreign Minister Sonoda Sunao, who had been appointed to carry out Sino-Japanese diplomacy without a scenario, he concluded the Treaty of Peace and Friendship between Japan and China almost unconditionally.
In the light of "law and justice," the Soviet Union ended up with absolutely nothing to offer Japan.
In my opinion, the Northern Territories issue, which is in dispute today, could have been handed back to the Soviet Union if Japan had devised a strategy for China and the Soviet Union and made a strong demand for the Soviet Union time.
In the light of "law and justice," the most important event between Japan and the Soviet Union (Japan and Russia) was the Soviet Union's declaration of war against Japan after its victory in the fight against Germany, in violation of the Soviet-Japanese Neutrality Pact, and its attack across the Soviet-Manchuria border on August 9, the day the atomic bomb was dropped on Nagasaki, and the illegal occupation of our northern territories immediately after that.
The secret Yalta Agreement was signed by the leaders of the U.S., Britain, and the Soviet Union in February 1945, which provided the basis for this.
As for the Yalta Agreement, I continue to teach its illegality and injustice to the young people of Japan, even now, at the beginning of my lectures, by showing them the original English text in its entirety, such as "The Kuril Islands will be handed over to the Soviet Union.
Moreover, then-President George W. Bush, a party to this agreement, admitted at a ceremony held in Latvia in May 2005 to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the victory over Germany that the Yalta Agreement was "the worst mistake in history."
I think that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and experts on Russian affairs should start by going back to the Yalta Agreement and denouncing Stalin's strategy toward Japan in the Northern Territories issue.
However, unfortunately, Japan was defeated in the war, and it was my opinion that, about the return of the four northern islands, while consistently advocating sovereignty, the back of the two islands should be realized first. Then the joint use of the four islands should be sought.
In this way, Japan had historical grounds for criticizing the then Stalin's Soviet Union, which had unilaterally abrogated the treaty between the nations and participated in the war against Japan, but Japan unilaterally abandoned the Treaty of Taipei and broke off diplomatic relations with Taiwan.
No matter how much it was the price of diplomatic relations between Japan and China, this was something that must not be done in terms of diplomacy, even in the light of "law and justice."
This article continues.