Japan won't force Russia to accept aid: gov't spokesman+

UBE, Japan, Aug. 8 Kyodo -
Chief Cabinet Secretary Takeo Kawamura said Saturday that Japan will not force
Russia to accept Japan's offer of humanitarian aid for the four Russian-held
islands off Hokkaido over which Japan claims sovereignty.
''It is not something we will force upon them,'' the top Japanese government
spokesman said in Ube, Yamaguchi Prefecture, a day after Russia's Foreign
Ministry said the country has rejected the aid. ''We take that in its own
way.''
The Russian ministry said it notified the Japanese Embassy in Moscow of the
decision on Friday.
Since Japan's Diet enacted a revised law in July declaring that the four
islands -- Kunashiri, Etorofu, Shikotan and the Habomai islet group -- are an
''integral part'' of Japan, Russia has toughened its stance on the bilateral
territorial row.
Asked about this apparent shift, Kawamura effectively denied any correlation
with the decision to reject Japan's aid, saying the latest move just shows that
''Russia's economic situation has stabilized.''
Japan started providing humanitarian aid such as medical supplies and food in
1992 to the residents of the four islands, who were facing economic
difficulties following the collapse of the former Soviet Union.
But Japan's medical supplies to the residents of the islands were cancelled in
January after Japanese Foreign Ministry officials, who were on a humanitarian
mission, refused to submit disembarkation cards upon arrival on Kunashiri
Island, as doing so would have signified that Japan recognized the island as
part of Russia.
In May, the provincial government of Sakhalin, which controls the four islands,
moved toward rejecting Japanese medical supplies for the islanders on the
grounds that Russia is now more economically developed.
==Kyodo
2009-08-08 23:53:32