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The USSR and Japan signed the Basic Convention
On January 20, 1925 after the long negotiations in Beijing was signed the Basic Convention normalizing relations between the Soviet Union and Japan. The treaty contained a series of concessions made to Japan from the Russian side in order to establish diplomatic relations and stabilize of the situation on the Russian Far East.
The convention established the bilateral diplomatic and consular relations between the Soviet Union and Japan. It honored the provisions of the Treaty of Portsmouth of 1905 and included the agreement for a possible revision of all the treaties and conventions (including the fishing convention of 1907) concluded between the former Russian Empire and Japan before October 25 (November 7), 1917.
One of the most important provisions of the Beijing treaty was the reciprocal obligation of the states not to allow the presence of any organizations or groups “pretending to become a government in any territory of the parties to the treaty” in the territories under their jurisdiction.
The status of Sakhalin island was determined by the special protocols. Japan undertook to withdraw its troops from the territory of the Northern Sakhalin by May 15, 1925. Under “A” protocol it immediately passed under the sovereignty of the USSR. By this protocol the parties also confirmed that none of them has any secret agreement or convention with a third party that could endanger the sovereignty and security of the other party. “B” protocol stipulated the concessions of Japan for operation of 50% of the area of 8 oilfields on the Northern Sakhalin chosen by the Japanese party.
The Treaty of Beijing provided to the Soviet state a long peaceful respite at the Far East. Already in the first decade of May, 1925 the evacuation of the Japanese troops from the northern part of Sakhalin was completed.
In 1945 the Soviet-Japanese Basic Convention ceased to be effective.
Lit.: История внешней политики СССР, 1917–1980. Т. 1. М., 1980; Плотников А. Ю. Формирование дальневосточной границы России в XVIII — первой половине XX вв. Автореф. дис. … д-ра ист. наук. М., 2009; Русские Курилы: история и современность: Сборник документов по истории формирования русско-японской и советско-японской границы. М., 2002; СССР — Япония. К 50-летию установления советско-японских дипломатических отношений (1925-1975). М., 1978; Черевко К. Е. Серп и молот против самурайского меча. М. 2003.
Based on the Presidential Library’s materials:
Конвенция об основных принципах взаимоотношений между СССР и Японией. Пекин, 20 января 1925;
Ответное письмо виконта Гото Л. М. Карахану: 6 марта 1925. Tokyo, 6. Maerz 1925;