The was a treaty normalizing relations between the

Empire of Japan The Empire of Japan, also known as the Japanese Empire or Imperial Japan, was the Japanese nation state that existed from the Meiji Restoration on January 3, 1868, until the Constitution of Japan took effect on May 3, 1947. From Japan–Kor ...

and the

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

that was signed on 20 January 1925. Ratifications were exchanged in Beijing on February 26, 1925. The agreement was registered in ''League of Nations Treaty Series'' on May 20, 1925.

Background

Following the defeat of the

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire that spanned most of northern Eurasia from its establishment in November 1721 until the proclamation of the Russian Republic in September 1917. At its height in the late 19th century, it covered about , roughl ...

in the

Russo-Japanese War The Russo-Japanese War (8 February 1904 – 5 September 1905) was fought between the Russian Empire and the Empire of Japan over rival imperial ambitions in Manchuria and the Korean Empire. The major land battles of the war were fought on the ...

of 1904–1905, co-operative relations between Russia and Japan were gradually restored by four sets of treaties signed between 1907 and 1916. However, the collapse of the Romanov dynasty, followed by the

Bolshevik Revolution The October Revolution, also known as the Great October Socialist Revolution (in Soviet historiography), October coup, Bolshevik coup, or Bolshevik revolution, was the second of two revolutions in Russia in 1917. It was led by Vladimir L ...

and the Japanese Siberian Intervention created a strong distrust between Japan and the newly founded Soviet Union.

Signing

The treaty was signed by Lev Mikhailovich Karakhan of the Soviet Union and Kenkichi Yoshizawa of Japan on 20 January 1925.

Terms

Following a series of negotiations held in

Beijing Beijing, Chinese postal romanization, previously romanized as Peking, is the capital city of China. With more than 22 million residents, it is the world's List of national capitals by population, most populous national capital city as well as ...

in 1924 and 1925, Japan agreed to extend

diplomatic recognition Diplomatic recognition in international law is a unilateral declarative political act of a state that acknowledges an act or status of another state or government in control of a state (may be also a recognized state). Recognition can be acc ...

to the Soviet Union and to withdraw its troops from the northern half of

Sakhalin Sakhalin ( rus, Сахали́н, p=səxɐˈlʲin) is an island in Northeast Asia. Its north coast lies off the southeastern coast of Khabarovsk Krai in Russia, while its southern tip lies north of the Japanese island of Hokkaido. An islan ...

island. In return, the Soviet Union agreed to honor the provisions of the Treaty of Portsmouth and to re-examine all other treaties between the former Russian Empire and Japan, including the Fishery Convention of 1907. The Soviet Union granted the Empire of Japan "

most favoured nation In international economic relations and international politics, most favoured nation (MFN) is a status or level of treatment accorded by one state to another in international trade. The term means the country which is the recipient of this treatme ...

" status. In Article VI, Japan received the right to establish concessions for mineral, timber, and other natural resources.

Aftermath

In January 1928, Gotō Shinpei visited the Soviet Union and negotiated for the continuation of Japanese fishing companies in Soviet waters and vice versa. Coal and oil companies, and the

Imperial Japanese Navy The Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN; Kyūjitai: Shinjitai: ' 'Navy of the Greater Japanese Empire', or ''Nippon Kaigun'', 'Japanese Navy') was the navy of the Empire of Japan from 1868 to 1945, Potsdam Declaration, when it was dissolved followin ...

, invested in northern

, creating the grounds for concessions. They exported coal and petroleum to Japan, and imported equipment to the Soviet Union. The Soviet Union would later provide the Empire of Japan with formal oil and coal concessions in Soviet Sakhalin that were expanded as late as 1939. and lasted until 1943. Japan formed the state owned firm North Sakhalin Oil () which extracted oil from the OKHA Oil Field () near Okha on North Sakhalin from 1926 to 1944. After the deportation of Koreans to Central Asia, some two thousand Soviet Koreans (or more) remained on northern Sakhalin for the expressed purpose of working on the Soviet-Japanese concessions (ie. joint-ventures), refuting the stated rationale for the deportation of Koreans ("to prevent the infiltration of Japanese espionage").

Notes

External links

Text of the convention
{{DEFAULTSORT:Soviet-Japanese Basic Convention Treaties of the Soviet Union Japan–Soviet Union relations 1925 in Japan 1925 in the Soviet Union Japanese involvement in the Russian Civil War Treaties concluded in 1925 Treaties of the Empire of Japan Japan–Russia treaties Interwar-period treaties