Sakhalin Island

One of the problems which invited the attention of the new Government early in the Meiji era had been handed down from the days of feudalism. In those days, neither Yezo nor Saghalien nor the Kurile Islands were under effective Japanese administration. The feudatory of Matsumae had his castle at the extreme south of Yezo, but the jurisdiction he exercised was only nominal. Yet the earliest explorers of Saghalien were certainly Japanese.

As far back as 1620, some vassals of the Matsumae feudatory landed on the island and remained there throughout a winter. The supposition then was that Saghalien formed part of the Asiatic mainland. But, in 1806, Mamiya Rinzo, a Japanese traveller, voyaged up and down the Amur, and, crossing to Saghalien, discovered that a narrow strait separated it from the continent. There still exists in Europe a theory that Saghalien's insular character was discovered first by a Russian, Captain Nevelskoy, in 1849, but in Japan the fact had already been known.

In 1855 the first treaty involving the Russians and the Japanese, the Treaty of Shimoda, was signed laying an official basis for Russo-Japanese trade. This treaty was part of the general treaty agreement following Admiral Perry's opening of Japan. It diverted a conflict between the two countries by establishing an agreed upon border line, just south of the island of Irup, with each country receiving ownership of a specific portion of the Kurils. Sakhalin Island would be jointly controlled with settlers from both countries welcomed to become inhabitants with joint fishing and hunting rights.

Saghalien commands the estuary of the Amur, and Muravieff, the distinguished Russian commander in East Asia, appreciated the necessity of acquiring the island for his country. In 1858, he visited Japan with a squadron and demanded that the Strait of La Perouse, which separates Saghalien from Yezo, should be regarded as the Russo-Japanese frontier. Japan naturally refused a proposal which would have given the whole of Saghalien to Russia, and Muravieff then resorted to the policy of sending emigrants to settle on the island.

Two futile attempts to prevent the process of gradual absorption by Russia were made by the Japanese Government. They first proposed a division of the island, and afterwards they offered to purchase the Russian portion for a sum of about £400,000 — $2,000,000. St. Petersburg seemed inclined to acquiesce, but the bargain provoked opposition in Tokyo, and not until 1875 was a final settlement reached, the conditions being that Japan should recognize Russia's title to the whole of Saghalien and Russia should recognize Japan's title to the Kuriles. These latter islands had always been regarded as Japanese property, and therefore the arrangement now effected amounted to the purchase of an area of Japanese territory by Russia, who paid for it with a part of Japan's belongings.

An interesting sequel to this chapter of history is that, thirty years later, Saghalien became the scene of a Japanese invasion and was ultimately divided between the two nations along the fiftieth parallel, which was precisely what the Bakufu statesmen had originally proposed. As the demand for sources of energy and raw materials to feed its industrialization and militarization drove the expansion of the Japanese empire, Japan's main thrust was toward Korea, Manchuria, and China but they were also interested in the island of Sakhalin. After defeating Russia in the Russo-Japanese War, by the 1905 Treaty of Portsmouth, Japan claimed the southern half of Sakhalin, together with Russian interests in South Manchuria as prizes of war.

After a raid on Japanese forces by partisans in 1920, the Japanese took control of the northern half of Sakhalin Island. By this time the Soviets were fed up and under Stalin were growing stronger, and in 1925 forced the Japanese out of northern Sakhalin. The Treaty of Portsmouth signed in 1905 was not altered. Japan retained ownership of the entire Kuril Island chain and the southern half of Sakhalin. The USSR retained ownership of the northern half of Sakhalin Island.

By 1945 Stalin wished to reestablish Soviet influence in the Pacific region and rail and base rights in Manchuria, as well as consolidate his position in Mongolia. He also wanted to seize the Sakhalin and Kurile Islands from Japan. In April 1945, Stalin abrogated the neutrality pact and commenced a massive redeployment effort that doubled the number of Soviet forces in the Far East to 80 divisions. On 9 August 1945, the main attack took place on the western Manchurian border where the Red Army bypassed fortified border regions. The Soviets also began operations against the Kurile Islands, attacked the southern half of Sakhalin Island.

The campaign, marked by both tactical and strategic surprise, continued until 17 August 1945. The Japanese did not widely follow the emperor’s order to surrender, issued on 14 August, until Imperial Headquarters made a subsequent broadcast. Glantz also explains how the Soviets had planned to seize the northern island of Hokkaido, which would have led to a split Japan during the Cold War. Japanese fighting on Sakhalin Island and the fact that the Japanese gave up after the second atomic explosion thwarted Stalin.

During the San Francisco Peace Conference of 1951 Japan agreed to renounce all rights and claims to southern Sakhalin and the Kuril Islands. The USSR was not a signatory of the Peace Treaty signed in San Francisco and this treaty clearly envisages that it does not grant a nonsignatory country any rights.

A great deal of Russia’s resources are ideally located to serve Pacific Rim markets, from vast oil and natural gas fields in eastern Siberia to reserves on Sakhalin Island. By itself, Sakhalin Island, just north of Japan, held 25 percent of Russia’s oil and six percent of its natural gas as of 2006. Due to the lack of pipeline infrastructure, these resources remain largely untapped. Japanese firms have been considering the possibility of imports, either by pipeline or as LNG, from large natural gas deposits on the Russian island of Sakhalin.