YOKOHAMA, Japan: The Japanese and Russian foreign ministers agreed to improve ties after tensions flared over disputed northern islands but Russia urged Japan to abandon its emotional stance on the issue and talk business instead. Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan brought up the territorial dispute in a meeting with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev on the sidelines of a summit of Asia-Pacific Economic Community (APEC) leaders on Saturday, officials on both sides said. “Our president said that it is better to abandon emotional statements and diplomatic gestures because they do not help at all, but he proposed to change the approach and prioritize the economy,” Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said at a briefing in Tokyo. The diplomatic chill followed this month's visit by Russian President Dmitry Medvedev to one of the islands, Kunashir, or Kunashiri in Japanese, the first by a Kremlin leader. The visit ignited long-simmering tensions over the island chain north of Japan. Japan's Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary Tetsuro Fukuyama told reporters that Kan told Medvedev his visit to Kunashir island was unacceptable. Lavrov said Russia reiterated its position on the issue. “The President decides himself which Russian region to visit. This is our territory and things will stay this way and I hope that our Japanese colleagues will take a more adequate approach to this,” Lavrov said. Political noise The Soviet Union occupied the four islands, known as the Northern Territories in Japan and the Southern Kuriles in Russia, at the end of World War Two and the row has weighed on relations ever since, precluding a formal peace treaty. The dispute has added to domestic problems for Kan, who is grappling with a divided parliament and is under fire for what critics say was his mishandling of a separate territorial row with China. The quarrels have helped to push Kan's support rating to its lowest since he took office five months ago. Lavrov said Medvedev invited Kan to visit Russia and Kan accepted the invitation. Russia, the world's biggest oil exporter, wants to diversify trade away from Europe where demand is likely to stagnate, and turns its attention to the booming Asian region. Medvedev recently visited a number of Asian countries. While in South Korea for the Group of 20 summit earlier this week, Medvedev said the region had serious potential for conflicts. Japan's share in Russia's trade fell to 3 percent in 2009 from 4 percent in 2008, amounting to $15 billion, while China's share grew to 8.4 percent from 7.6 percent. China has become Russia's largest trading partner in 2010. A number of Japanese companies, including Toyota Motor and Komatsu Ltd, opened plants in Russia. Oleg Deripaska, CEO of the world's top aluminum maker UC RUSAL, said the spat had so far had no impact on the Russian-Japanese economic relationship, adding that Japanese companies were looking for contracts in Russia. “In today's world Japan needs Russia and Russia needs Japan as a source for technology and a source of demand for our goods. This (dispute) is political noise made for domestic consumption,” Deripaska told reporters.
