Unilaterally breaking the peace treaty with Japan the Bush Administration is ceding southern Sakhalin Island to the Russians without the consent of the other 46 countries signing the treaty ending World War II.

     The State Department attempted to establish a consulate office in November 2002 on southern Sakhalin Island, acting as if the Russians were sovereign instead of recognizing the rights of the 47 World War II allied countries which collectively received southern Sakhalin from Japan in the 1951 treaty.  (See treaty below.)

     The Commerce and Energy Departments are assisting the treaty abrogation by facilitating Russian exploitation of valuable oil and gas properties in and around Sakhalin Island. Billions of dollars of resources have been identified within the 200-mile exclusive economic zone that extends into the ocean from Sakhalin Island.

     These actions attempt to circumvent the U.S. Senate which declared in its 1952 consent that with respect to southern Sakhalin Island the treaty does not "confer any right, title, or benefit therein or thereto on the Soviet Union". The Bush Administration has not cited any legal authority for its current actions.

     Major oil deals on Sakhalin Island have been advanced to such petroleum giants as Shell, ExxonMobil, and BP with no royalties to be paid to any of the 47 treaty signatories.  Major pipelines have been built on the southern part of the island.

     Lying north of modern Japan, Sakhalin Island measures 500 miles long by 50 miles wide, equivalent to the five states of Maryland, New Jersey, Connecticut, Rhode Island, and Delaware. The part of Sakhalin south of the 50 degrees north was unquestionably part of Japan during World War II.  It was invaded by the Soviet Union a couple weeks before the end of the war in August 1945. The Soviets and Russians have maintained this belligerent military posture ever since, including refusing to sign the peace treaty with Japan.

     For decades through the mid-1980s the State Department always marked maps of Sakhalin Island with a dividing line at 50 degrees north noting that the Soviet Union occupied it but was not sovereign. In September 1983, when the Soviets shot down the Korean airliner KAL007 over southern Sakhalin Island, the State Department removed the dividing line and notation on the map, lending legitimacy to the Soviet excuse of shooting down a civilian airplane in its "sovereign" airspace.

     The Treaty of San Francisco signatories other than the United States and Japan are Argentina, Australia, Belgium, Bolivia, Brazil, Cambodia, Canada, Ceylon (Sri Lanka), Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Egypt, El Salvador, Ethiopia, France, Greece, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Laos, Lebanon, Liberia, Luxembourg, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Nicaragua, Norway, Pakistan, Panama, Peru, Philippines, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Syria, Turkey, United Kingdom, Uruguay, Venezuela, and Viet Nam.

Southern Sakhalin Sovereignty

Transferred to Signatories of Treaty of San Francisco, Not USSR

Notes from “Postwar Territorial Settlements—Formosa, Korea, Sakhalin, and the Kuriles” in the Department of State publication “Digest of International Law” October 1964.

P. 478: Cairo Declaration, Dec. 1, 1943 (Roosevelt, Churchill, Chaing Kai-Shek)

             “It is their purpose that Japan shall be stripped of all the islands in the Pacific which she

              seized or occupied since the beginning of the first World War in 1914, and that all the

              territories Japan has stolen from the Chinese, such as Manchuria, Formosa, and the

              Pescadores, shall be restored to the Republic of China.  Japan will also be expelled

              from all other territories which she has taken from violence and greed.  The aforesaid

              three great powers, mindful of the enslavement of the people of Korea, are determined

              that in due course Korea shall be free and independent.”

P. 479: Yalta Agreement, Feb. 11, 1945 (Roosevelt, Churchill, Stalin)

             “2.  The former rights of Russia violated by the treacherous attack of Japan in 1904 shall

              be preserved, viz:  (a) the southern part of Sakhalin as well as all the islands adjacent to

              it shall be returned to the Soviet Union.”

P. 481:  Jan. 29, 1946 statement of Secretary of State Byrnes:

             “Asked whether it would be necessary to have a peace treaty to formalize that transfer

              [southern Sakhalin from Japan to Soviet Union], the Secretary replied in the affirmative,

              adding that that was his understanding of all those matters.”

P. 482:  “…but he added that there was not any question about what was intended at Yalta

              because at Yalta he heard Mr. Roosevelt on at least one or two occasions take the

              position that as to cession of territory, it was a matter that had to be settled in the

              peace treaty.”

P. 483:  “He [President Truman] explained that this type of an agreement constituted a wartime

              understanding between the Allies as to the best method of using their combined forces

              to win the war.”

P. 484:   Potsdam Proclamation, July 26, 1945 (U.S.,  Great Britain, and China)

              “(8) The terms of the Cairo Declaration shall be carried out and Japanese sovereignty

               shall be limited to the islands of Honshu, Hokkaido, Kyushu,  Shikoku, and such minor

               islands as we determine.”

[August 6 (Hiroshima) and August 9 (Nagasaki)]

P. 485:  Soviet Commissar of Foreign Affairs Molotov announcement

             “…the Soviet Government declares that from tomorrow, i.e., from August 9, the Soviet

              Union will consider itself in a state of war with Japan.”

 P. 486:  Instrument of Surrender, Sep. 2, 1945

             “We, acting by command of and in behalf of the Emperor of Japan, the Japanese

              Government and the Japanese Imperial General Headquarters, hereby accept the

              provisions set forth in the declaration issued by the heads of the Government of the

              United States, China, and Great Britain on 26 July 1945, at Potsdam, and subsequently

              adhered to by the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics….”

P. 488:  General Order No. 1, Sep. 2, 1945

             “(b) The senior Japanese Commanders and all ground, sea, [,] air and auxiliary forces

              within Manchuria, Korea North of 38 degrees North latitude, Karafuto [i.e., the

              southern part of Sakhalin], and the Kurile Islands, shall surrender to the Commander

              in Chief of Soviet Forces in the Far East.”

P. 498:  Memorandum of Jan. 29, 1946 (SCAPIN 677) issued by General Headquarters, Supreme

             Commander for the Allied Powers, for the Imperial Japanese Government through the

             Central Liaison Office at Tokyo.

              “4. Further areas specifically excluded from the governmental and administrative

              jurisdiction of the Imperial Japanese Government are the following…(d) Karafuto [i.e.

              the southern part of Sakhalin].”

P. 500:   Decrees of Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the U.S.S.R., Feb. 2, 1946

              “Art. 1.  It is laid down that as of Sep. 20, 1945, all the land and its subsoils and the

               forests and waters of the territory of the southern part of the island of Sakhalin and

               the Kurile Islands are the property of the State, i.e. the property of all the people.”

               “The territories of Southern Sakhalin and the Kurile Islands are to be established as

                the Southern Sakhalin Oblast (having its centre the town of Toikhara), and it is to be

                incorporated in the Khabarovsk Krai of the R.S.F.S.R.”

P. 508:   Memorandum of October 1950 by Department of State

              “There is given below a brief general statement of the type of Treaty envisioned by the

               United States Government as proper to end the state of war with Japan. … 3.  Territory.

               Japan would … (c) accept the future decision of the U.K., U.S.S.R., China and U.S.

               with reference to the status of Formosa, Pescadores, South Sakhalin and the Kuriles.  In

               the event of no decision within a year after the Treaty came into effect, the U. N.

               General Assembly would decide.”

P. 509:   Aide memoire document of Soviet Union, Nov. 20, 1950

              “2. … In a similar manner the Yalta Agreement of February 11, 1945, signed by the

                U.S.A., Great Britain and the U.S.S.R., decided the question of returning the

                southern part of Sakhalin Island and the adjacent islands to the Soviet Union and the

                handing over to her the Kurile Islands.  In as much as the above agreement exists,

                how should the proposal contained in the memorandum be interpreted which would

                make the status of Formosa, the Pescadores, Southern Sakhalin and the Kurile Islands

                subject to a new decision by the U.S.A., Great Britain, China and the U.S.S.R., and

                case the states mentioned fail to reach an agreement in the course of a year, to a

                decision of the General Assembly of the United Nations.”

 P. 538:  Statement by John Foster Dulles, consultant to the Secretary of State, Sep. 3, 1951:

              “VI.  Charge: … Likewise the treaty states that Southern Sakhalin and the Kurile Islands

               are to be detached from Japan, but does not state, as previously promised by the United

               States, that these territories should be handed over to the Soviet Union. Answer: …

               As regards Southern Sakhalin and the Kurile Islands, the treaty carries out the

               provisions of the Potsdam surrender terms, the only agreement by which Japan and the

               Allied powers as a whole are bound.”

P. 545:   Amendment to draft peace treaty proposed by Soviet delegate Gromyko, Sep. 5, 1951:

              “1.  To Article 2. … b) Paragraph ‘c’ is to be amended to read as follows:  ‘Japan

               recognizes full sovereignty of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics over southern

               part of the Sakhalin Island, with all the islands adjacent to that part, and over the Kurile

               Islands and renounces all right, title, and claim to these territories.”

               The amendment was not voted on, having been ruled out of order, and sustained by a

               vote of 46 to 3 with 1 abstention.

P. 548:   Statement by delegate Castro from El Salvador, Sep. 6, 1951:

               “…This situation is not at all satisfactory to the Government of El Salvador, but on the

               other hand it could not agree at all that such renunciation implies the transformation of

               the de facto occupation of the said territories by the Soviet Union into de jure

               occupation, that is, with full legal rights.  In signing the Treaty of Peace, the Salvadoran

               Delegation declares that it accepts the renunciation which Japan makes of the Kurile

               Islands and of part of Sakhalin Island, without prejudice whatsoever to the future of

               those territories, still less implying reaffirmation or ratification of the Yalta

               Agreements.”

P. 555:   Treaty of Peace with Japan signed on Sep. 8, 1951 by 48 Allied Powers and Japan.  It

               was not signed by Burma, China, Czechoslovakia, India, Poland, or the Soviet Union.

               “Chapter II. Territory.  Article 2 (c) Japan renounces all right, title and claim to the

               Kurile Islands, and to that portion of Sakhalin and the islands adjacent to it over which

               Japan acquired sovereignty as a consequence of the Treaty of Portsmouth of September

               5, 1905.”

               “Chapter VII.  Final Clauses.  Article 25.  For the purpose of the present Treaty the

               Allied Powers shall be the States at war with Japan, or any state which previously

               formed a part of the territory of a State named in Article 23, provided that in each case

               the State concerned has signed and ratified the Treaty.  Subject to the provisions of

               Article 21, the present Treaty shall not confer any rights, titles or benefits on any State

               which is not an Allied Power as herein defined; nor shall any right, title or interest of

               Japan be deemed to be diminished or prejudiced by any provision of the Treaty in

               favor of a State which is not an Allied Power as so defined.”

 P. 560:   Proclamation of Treaty of Peace with Japan by President Truman, Apr. 18, 1952:

               “Whereas the Senate of the United States of America by their resolution of March 20,

               1952, two-thirds of the Senators present concurring therein, did advise and consent to

                the ratification of the said Treaty with the following declaration:

                ‘As part of such advice and consent the Senate states that nothing the treaty contains is

                deemed to diminish or prejudice, in favor of the Soviet Union, the right, title, and

                interest of Japan, or the Allied Powers as defined in said treaty, in and to South

                Sakhalin and its adjacent islands, the Kurile Islands, the Habomai Islands, the island of

                Shikotan, or any other territory, rights, or interests possessed by Japan on December 7,

                1941, or to confer any right, title, or benefit therein or thereto on the Soviet Union; and

                also nothing in the said treaty, or the advice and consent of the Senate to the

                ratification thereof, implies recognition on the part of the United States of the

                provisions in favor of the Soviet Union contained in the so-called “Yalta agreement”

                regarding Japan of February 11, 1945.’”

P. 566:    U.S. aide memoire document issued to Japan, Sep. 8, 1956:

               “With respect to the territorial question, as the Japanese Government has been

               previously informed, the United States regards the so-called Yalta agreement as simply

               a statement of common purposes by the then heads of the participating powers, and not

               as a final determination by those powers or of any legal effect in transferring territories.

               The San Francisco Peace Treaty (which conferred no rights upon the Soviet Union

                because it refused to sign) did not determine the sovereignty of the territories

                renounced by Japan, leaving that question, as was stated by the Delegate of the

                United States at San Francisco, to ‘international solvents other than this treaty’.  It is

                the considered opinion of the United States that by virtue of the San Francisco Peace

                Treaty Japan does not have the right to transfer sovereignty over the territories

                renounced by it therein.  In the opinion of the United States, the signatories of the

                San Francisco Treaty would not be bound to accept any action of this character and

                they would, presumably, reserve all their rights thereunder.”

P. 590:    Note from Soviet Deputy Foreign Minister Pushkin to American Charge d’Affaires

               McSweeney at Moscow, Sep. 4, 1962:

               “According to verified information, an American U-2 reconnaissance plane, at 7:21

               P.M. Moscow time on Aug. 30 this year, intruded into the air space of the Soviet Union

               in the Far East, sixty-five kilometers east of the town of Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk, and

               overflew Soviet territory and territorial waters for nine minutes.”

P. 591:   Note from American Charge d’Affairs McSweeney to Soviet Foreign Ministry at

               Moscow, Sep. 5, 1962:

               “Investigation revealed that an unintentional violation may have in fact taken place.  A

               patrol craft operated by the U. S. Air Force was in the northern Pacific area east of

               Sakhalin at about the time specified in the Soviet note.  The pilot of the aircraft has

               reported that he was flying a directed course well outside Soviet territorial limits but

               encountered severe winds during this nighttime flight and may therefore have

               overthrown the southern tip of Sakhalin.  If the pilot of the aircraft in question did in

               fact violate Soviet territory, this act was entirely unintentional and due solely to a

               navigational error under extremely difficulty flying conditions.”

P. 591:   News article in The New York Times, Sep. 5, 1962:

               “On September 4, 1962, the Department of State authorized the American Embassy at

               Tokyo to inform the Japanese Foreign Office that the Department, if questioned by the

               press, would state that it considered that the above United States note to the Soviet

               Union was concerned with the question of aircraft flying over an area controlled by the

               Soviet Union and not with the question of sovereignty of that area.”