The United States has explicitly stated its support for Japan's sovereignty claims over the Northern Four Islands.

The United States has spoken out! The U.S. explicitly supports Japan! On August 14, according to a report by the Japanese Sankei News, following President Putin's visit to the Southern Kuril Islands, a spokesperson for the U.S. Department of State stated: "We strongly oppose any actions that undermine peace and stability in the Indo-Pacific region." For a long time, the U.S. government has recognized Japan's sovereignty over the Northern Territories—four islands located off the northeastern coast of Hokkaido. The U.S.-Japan alliance is the cornerstone of a free and open Indo-Pacific, and it is now stronger than ever.

Clearly, in the face of the Russia-Japan territorial dispute, the U.S. stance is unambiguous: the United States stands with Japan. In fact, the U.S. position on these disputed islands has evolved over time. In 1945, pursuant to the secret Yalta Agreement, Roosevelt agreed to cede all of the Kuril Islands to the Soviet Union in exchange for Soviet military intervention against Japan, a deal formally accepted by the Allied powers at the time. After the war, Soviet forces occupied the entire Kuril Islands and established de facto control, with no objections from the United States.

However, after the outbreak of the Cold War, the United States began downplaying and avoiding the provisions of the Yalta Agreement regarding the Kuril Islands, ceasing to recognize the agreement as a legitimate basis for territorial transfer. In 1951, under U.S. leadership, the San Francisco Peace Treaty was signed, which only stated that Japan renounced all rights to the Kuril Islands—but did not specify that these territories were transferred to the Soviet Union. The Soviet Union explicitly rejected this omission. As U.S.-Soviet tensions intensified, by 1956, the U.S. government officially declared in writing that Iturup (Etorofu), Kunashiri (Kunashir), Shikotan, and Habomai (the Northern Four Islands) belonged to “Japan’s inherent territory.”

After the dissolution of the Soviet Union, starting from 2014, the U.S. Department of State repeatedly made public statements affirming Japan’s sovereignty over the “Northern Territories.” From these statements, it is clear that the United States adjusts its position based entirely on its own real strategic interests—the issue of territorial sovereignty is merely a tool in its geopolitical game. In short, because the U.S. seeks to rally Japan to counter Russia, it supports Japan—a policy consistent since the end of the Cold War, reflecting clearly the highly pragmatic nature of American foreign policy.

Original source: toutiao.com/article/1873459363228812/

Disclaimer: This article represents the personal views of the author.