Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and Russian President Vladimir Putin, meeting in Singapore last week, reportedly agreed to expedite the stalled negotiations for a World War II peace treaty based on the 1956 joint declaration by Japan and the Soviet Union. Tokyo and Moscow have not been able to sign a formal peace treaty in the more than seven decades since the war due to the long-standing dispute over the group of islands off Hokkaido that were seized by Soviet forces in 1945. Since the declaration says Shikotan and the Habomai group of islets would be handed over to Japan once a peace treaty is signed — but makes no mention of the much larger two islands in dispute, Kunashiri and Etorofu — the Abe-Putin meeting gave way to speculation that the government may be changing its position of settling the dispute over all the islands before concluding the peace treaty.

Abe's intentions behind the move have not been made clear, but speaking to reporters after the talks he said he shared with Putin "a strong will to put an end" to the lack of a peace treaty under their leadership, indicating once again that he hopes to settle the matter while he is in office, which could be as long as September 2021 when his tenure as president of the Liberal Democratic Party will run out.

Even 62 years after the 1956 joint declaration restored diplomatic ties between Tokyo and Moscow, efforts to solve the territorial row over Kunashiri, Etorofu, Shikotan and Habomai have not made much substantive progress, although various proposals have been made and approaches tried over the years. It seems clear that a bold political decision is needed to resolve the matter.