Spratly Islands

[n1warrior2]

What is Russia's policy towards the Spratly Islands?

[Lilly]

The Sptratly Islands are in the South China Sea - Southeastern Asia, a group of reefs and islands in the South China Sea, about two-thirds of the way from southern Vietnam to the southern Philippines


Perhaps you are referring to the SAKHALIN Islands where there has been a dispute between Japan and Russia.

With the Kuril
Islands, Sakhalin is one of the territories disputed between Japan and Russia and its belonging has not yet been definitely settled. Sakhalin is an island located
between Japan and Russian Maritime Territory. It is separated from the continent by a narrow strait Westerners thought it should be a peninsula.

In 1983 Soviet war planes brought down a Boeing of Korean Air Lines and killed 240 passengers aboard above South Sakhalin. It is a totally illegal action for the international law because that land hasn't yet officially belonged to Russia.


The dispute is concentrated over the ownership of the southern part of Kuril Islands where the Japanese government is officially claiming a return back. They affirm that the 4 islands (Kunashir, Etorof, Shikotan, Habomai) shouldn't be annexed by Russia, because the old diplomatic documents seem exclude the south Kuril from "geographic" Kuril.

LillyNomad

[This message has been edited by Lilly (edited 30 December 1999).]

[n1warrior2]

Thank you ever so much for that detailed summary, but unfortunately I DO mean the Spratly Islands. The reason I am inquiring about these islands is because I have to represent Russia in a Model UN in ESCAP (Economic and Social Commission on Asia and the Pacific), and one of the topics is the Spratly Islands. What would Russia want done with these islands which are in the midst of dispute?

Greetings,
Russia has no interest in these Islands. The dispute is between Manila and Bejing. It is a very lovely part of the world. The South China Sea has some of the nicest Islands. I have vacationed on Palawan, Maranduqui and
and Bora Cay. Palawan is real close to the Spratlys. If you are looking for PARADISE
this is it. The dipute is not over Hotels and Beaches, it is over offshore OIL FIELDS.
Now you KNOW.

[This message has been edited by B.Ungaro (edited 05 January 2000).]

[Keshi]

ABOUT SAKHALIN:
Sakhalin had been a dispute between Russia and Japan before 1875 when Russia gained Sakhalin in complete possession in exchange of a group of the Kuril islands. In 1905 as a result of Russia's defeat in the Russo-Japanese War (1904-1905), Japan took over of a half of Sakhalin (southern part of it - this treaty was signed in USA by representatives of Japanese and Russian goverements. Russians were pretty upset over this and gave a nickname to a Russian representative as Half-Sakhalinian (Polu-sakhalinski)). In 1920-1925 North Sakhalin was occupied by Japan but in 1945 USSR took over of Sakhalin and Kuril Islands as a result of Japan's defeat in WWII. Considering above I have doubts that USSR did not have any legal rights to regard Sakhalin as its own territory. Could you possibly give some info on the sources you used for the determination of the legal status of Sakhalin?
Secondly, in respect of the Korean Boing… It is still a mystery why this plane kept silence for all 30 minutes of the flight above the territory of Soviet Sakhalin. Why the lights were dimmed… Why the crew did not respond and a lot of other whys…One of the explanation I heard was that the plane deliberately was crossing the territory of USSR and as every soviet military anti-aircraft base was "waking" up, another "spying" plane flying along the border located the bases coordinates. But nobody expected Soviets to shoot the plane down as just short time before the tragedy, they had forced another foreign plane to land safely in almost the same situation. Looks like Soviets did not believe that the Boing really had passengers on board. Interesting that after a lot of fuss, both American and Soviet sides became very quite about the incident.

[mastodon]

Russia Criticizes Japan, S. Korea for Incorrect Maps

Gazeta.Ru - The Russian Foreign Ministry has issued a statement criticizing Japan and South Korea after the latter printed maps marking the southern Kurile islands of Iturup and Kunashir as Japanese territory.

The statement released on Tuesday reads, "This does not contribute to the strengthening of good-neighbourly relations, friendship and trust between the two countries".

According to the Foreign Ministry, the incident comes "at a time when Moscow and Tokyo - in line with top-level accords - are conducting a difficult dialogue to find a mutually acceptable solution to the border delimitation issue", the Ministry said.

"Clearly artificial fanning up of emotions around this problem does not bring a solution closer," it added.

The Soviet Union seized the islands to the north of Japan in 1945, but Japan has never recognized their loss.

On Friday the Sakhalin regional assembly in Russia's Far East asked President Vladimir Putin and Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov to "take steps against cartographic expansion into Russian territory".

[Terminator]

With regard to the Spartly Islands, it is not just a dispute between Manila and Beijing; it is a dispute involving more countries, aside from China and the Philippines, it also involves Vietnam, and (I think) Brunei and Malaysia.


In fact, it is mostly a dispute between China and Vietnam.



What does Russia has at stake - "directly" nothing, but "indirectly" if the islands go to China, than it may strengthen that country, and if this happens, then Russia will have to face a stronger China when it invades Siberia.


So, perhaps it would be better for Russia if the islands went to any other country involved in the dispute except China or Taiwan (the two are two heads of the same beast).




I hope this helps.