TOKYO, Nov. 22 KYODO 2005As anticipated, Russian President Vladimir Putin's summit talks with Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi ended without any tangible progress over their countries' territorial row or any surprises.
With neither a joint political document nor a new proposal to speak of after the talks, Koizumi and Putin simply confirmed their commitment to continuing dialogue on the longstanding dispute over a group of islands off Hokkaido.
''We recognized the need to resolve the island ownership issue and conclude a peace treaty. But frankly speaking, there are considerable gaps between the two countries,'' Koizumi said in a news conference with Putin after their talks.
Putin said he understands that the resolution of the issue is ''not easy'' but both leaders said they will strive to find a solution to the territorial dispute in an acceptable manner.
Ahead of the talks, Japanese officials and experts believed there would be no substantial progress on the dispute, which has prevented the two countries from signing a post-World War II peace treaty.
A senior Japanese Foreign Ministry official said Tokyo had tried hard to issue a political document addressing the issue, but added, ''It is better not to have a joint statement at all than one that would become a setback (for Japan) in talks on the disputed islands.''
Another official said Japan should not release any statement that could be taken as a ''concession'' on Japan's part.
It is rare for leaders of two countries to fail to issue a joint political document on such an important issue, and means the road ahead will continue to be rough.
Japan and Russia have long been divided over the sovereignty of Kunashiri, Etorofu, Shikotan and the Habomai islet group, known in Japan as the Northern Territories and in Russia as the southern Kurils.
Japan has been demanding the return of all four islands, citing the 1993 Tokyo Declaration, which says the governments of the two countries should conclude a peace treaty through a solution to the dispute.
Russia wants to resolve the dispute in line with the 1956 Japan-Soviet Joint Declaration, which stipulates that Moscow would return Shikotan and the Habomai islets off Nemuro on the eastern tip of Hokkaido to Japan after the conclusion of a peace treaty.
The Koizumi-Putin meeting could not have generated any better results in view of the circumstances surrounding the two countries.
Japan miscalculated in its diplomacy toward Russia, especially after Russia recently started taking a tougher line on the territorial issue, said Shigeki Hakamada, an Aoyama Gakuin University professor specializing in Russian affairs.
Russia has become tougher on the territorial row with Japan, apparently because its reliance on Japan for economic assistance has decreased amid the robust economic expansion in Russia, stemming from higher crude oil prices.
Japan and Russia ''failed to continue playing catch'' after Russia threw the ball, Hakamada said, adding Japan could have shown more wisdom in responding positively.
Hakamada was referring to Japan's sharp reaction to Putin's televised press conference in September in which the Russian president said there is no room for further discussion of Russia's sovereignty over the islands.
With the territorial issue deadlocked, economic issues took center stage in the Koizumi-Putin summit.
Prospects seem brighter for bilateral ties on the economic front, including a pipeline project that would help Japan secure oil supplies.
After the summit, the Japanese and Russian governments adopted 12 documents including ones on antiterrorism and economic cooperation measures.
In a document on the pipeline project -- another main focus of the summit -- Russia promised Japan that it will build a Pacific-bound oil pipeline linking eastern Siberia with the Russian Far East but fell short of setting a date for constructing it.
In a news conference later Monday, Japanese Vice Foreign Minister Shotaro Yachi dismissed concerns that economic cooperation could put the territorial dispute into the shadows, saying Japan will continue to work toward resolving the territorial row.
For starters, Koizumi accepted an invitation by Putin to make a state visit to Russia next year. Meanwhile, Koizumi invited Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Fradkov to visit Japan also next year and Putin basically accepted it, Japanese officials said.
But if Russia's intransigence on the territorial issue continues, it could trigger ire from the Japanese government.
''It's like the Yasukuni issue,'' one Japanese Foreign Ministry official said, claiming that Russia is stubbornly making a case out of the territorial row in the way China and South Korea do with regard to Koizumi's visits to Yasukuni Shrine.
==Kyodo
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