In October 2020, the U.S.-Japan joint military exercise, codenamed Sword-21, was aimed at improving training for island-seizing operations.
The two sides have invested more than 50,000 troops, including more than 300 aircraft and dozens of **, and the exercise is on a grand scale. Almost at the same time, Russia also sent a large number of additional T-72B3 main battle tanks to the Kuril Islands to strengthen its ability to resist landings.
In addition, General Sergei Suvodin of the Eastern Military District of Russia openly stated that Russia plans to send additional troops to the Kuril Islands and build more than 150 new military facilities.
The successive occurrence of these military maneuvers has made the tense atmosphere in the Kuril Islands even stronger.
The confrontation between Japan and Russia is aimed at the ownership of the four northern islands. The four northern islands belong to the Kuril Islands, including the four islands of Kunashir, Seto, Hamai and Shikotan, with a total area of only 4,996 square kilometers.
However, these four islands have a strategic value that cannot be ignored. The four northern islands are rich in natural resources and are a veritable "treasure trove of fish", while Kunashir Island and Setokudo Island are volcanic areas rich in geothermal energy, freshwater resources, and forest resources.
In addition, the four northern islands are also rich in mineral resources, including 1.6 billion tons of oil, 1,867 tons** and 3.97 million tons of titanium. One of the most prized is a rhenium mine on the island.
Rhenium, a rarer metal than platinum, plays an important role in the military industry, such as advanced fighter jets, and the world's total stockpiles in 2015 were only 2,800 tons.
The superiority of the location determines the strategic value of the four northern islands. For Russia, this area is an important gateway to the Pacific Ocean, and if it is lost, Russia will directly become a landlocked country, and its maritime status will be seriously weakened.
Conversely, if Russia can own the four northern islands, it will be able to enclose the Sea of Okhotsk and turn it into an inland sea. For Japan, the four northern islands act as a natural barrier against the Russian threat.
After occupying the four northern islands, Japan's early warning space and defense capabilities will be enhanced. It is precisely because of this strategic significance that Russia and Japan have fought fiercely over the four northern islands for more than 300 years.
To this day, the question of the ownership of the four northern islands remains like a deep chasm that straddles the two countries and hinders the establishment of friendly relations between them. Why, then, do both countries consider themselves ownership of the four northern islands?
Who do the four northern islands belong to? According to Japanese historical records, the Ainu inhabited the four northern islands as early as the 6th century AD. The Ainu, also known as the Ezo people, are the indigenous people of the Hokkaido region.
In chronological order and first-come, first-served logic, the original four northern islands clearly belonged to Japan.
Since 1760, Russian fishing boats have begun to frequently visit the surrounding areas of the four northern islands, which has led to the economic and cultural development of the region. Tsarist Russia began to use grace and power, forcing the Japanese Ezo people to change to Russian nationality one after another.
From this time on, Tsarist Russia unilaterally incorporated the four northern islands into its territory. Tsarina Catherine II also issued an edict to the four northern islands, demanding that all exorbitant taxes be exempted.
This continued until 1875. After the Meiji Restoration, the Japanese authorities decided to vigorously develop the Hokkaido region. So in 1875, Japan and Tsarist Russia signed the Sakhalin Kuril Islands Exchange Treaty.
Japan gave up sovereignty over Sakhalin to Tsarist Russia in exchange for sovereignty over the entire Kuril Islands. From 1875 until the end of World War II, the four northern islands returned to Japan.
At the end of World War II, the United States, Great Britain, and the Soviet Union convened the Yalta Conference. At the meeting, Roosevelt tried to persuade the Soviet Union to terminate the no-war pact with Japan and to give full support to the plans of the anti-fascist Allies in the Pacific theater.
Subsequently, the three countries signed the Yalta Agreement, in which the Soviet Union pledged to participate in the war against Japan after the end of the war in Europe, demanding the acquisition of the Kuril Islands and other areas. On August 8, 1945, the Soviet Union officially declared war on Japan as Nazi Germany surrendered.
The Soviet Union launched the Far East Campaign, sending nearly 1 million troops to face the Japanese army head-on. The Kuril Islands were one of the main battlefields of the war between the Soviet Red Army and the Japanese army, and after more than half a month of fighting, the Soviet Red Army successfully occupied the Kuril Islands.
The Far East campaign completely defeated Japanese imperialism, and on September 2 of the same year, the Japanese representative signed the instrument of unconditional surrender, and the Second World War ended.
After the end of World War II, according to the Potsdam Declaration, Japan's territory consisted only of the mainland and certain islands, while the four northern islands belonged to the Soviet Union. In 1947, the Soviet Union officially incorporated the four northern islands into the national territory and incorporated all 170,000 Japanese deported.
In the following years, the four northern islands were marked as Russian territory on Japanese maps. In 1955, Japan and the Soviet Union began to discuss the resumption of diplomatic relations, and at first the two sides were harmonious, and the Soviet Union even considered returning Hamai and Shikotan islands to Japan.
However, with the strengthening of relations between the United States and Japan, the Soviet Union began to build military bases on the four northern islands, denying Japanese ownership of them, which also led to the breakdown of Japan-Soviet negotiations.
After the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, the Russian economy was in trouble, and the country's economy was on the verge of collapse. In order to seek economic assistance, Russia took the initiative to make overtures to Japan, willing to hand over the islands of Hamai and Shikotan to Japan.
However, Japan, which has the right to speak, demands that Russia return the four northern islands together, which is difficult for Russia to accept. After all, the four northern islands are Russia's only gateway to the Pacific Ocean and are its strategic lifeblood.
As a result, the two sides parted unhappily again. Since then, Russia's attitude towards the four northern islands has become tougher. Currently, more than 10,000 people live on the four northern islands, most of whom are Russian servicemen.
Russia has a number of military installations on the island and has deployed a variety of mass destruction**. Despite Japan's opposition to Russia's strengthening of the military on the four northern islands, Russia does not care about this.
Japan's "Attack on the Mind": The Battle for the Four Northern Islands Compared with Russia's use of force, Japan has chosen to play a "heart attack" on the issue of the four northern islands.
In 1945, Japan set February 7 as the "Northern Territories Day", and every year on this day, the major ** will publicize the content with the theme of "returning the four northern islands".
Japan has also promulgated the Law on Special Measures to Promote the Settlement of the Northern Territories Issue, encouraging Japanese people to move their household registration to the four northern islands and instilling in the people the idea that "the four northern islands belong to Japan."
Successive Japanese prime ministers have tried to recapture the four northern islands, but they have all failed, much to the disappointment of the Japanese people. However, after Japan's new Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga came to power, he once again set off a wave of "reclaiming the four northern islands", and some people even proposed the use of nuclear **.
Although this proposal is unlikely to be adopted in the current international situation, it is enough to show how successful Japan has been in attaching importance to the four northern islands and in "attacking the hearts and minds" of the people.
Both Russia and Japan are resolute in their approach to the four northern islands, and both sides are striving for control. Under this circumstances, the dispute over the four northern islands will continue for a long time in the future, and it is still unclear whether Japan will be able to regain control from Russia.