20 January 1925 of the USSR and Japan signed the Beijing Treaty
20 January 1925 The USSR and Japan signed the Beijing Treaty, establishing diplomatic relations. During the Civil War in Russia, the Japanese actively participated in the international intervention in the Far East. Attempts by Moscow to somehow normalize relations with its eastern neighbor remained unsuccessful due to the extremely hostile position of the Japanese Empire. Japan wanted to get the maximum benefit from the weakening of Russia. To maintain chaos in Russia, the Japanese helped Kolchak and Ataman Semyonov. With the defeat of the troops of Kolchak, the intervention of the Entente in the European part of Russia in 1918 — 1920. and strengthening the world position of Soviet Russia, the situation has changed for Japan. When it became clear to Americans that by the beginning of 1920, Kolchak and his regime were “waste material,” a note was sent to Japan, which indicated that the continued presence of foreign troops in Russia not only did not help, but also prevented the Russian people from reasonably arranging your life. Why is the United States preoccupied with the interests of the Russian people? The answer is simple - it was not possible to establish the pro-American regime of Kolchak in Russia, the main map of the United States was beaten, and the Americans did not want to give the Japanese a chance to be fixed on the Russian lands when leaving. It is necessary to take into account the fact that by this point American public opinion was inclined to think that Russia should be left alone, people felt that the intervention had failed. It's one thing when the Russians themselves kill each other, and the "allies" of the whites are waiting for a positive result behind their backs. Americans themselves, French and British did not want to die.
However, Japan had its own opinion regarding its presence in the Far East. The Japanese were ready to fight not only with the bayonets and sabers of Kolchak and Semenov, but themselves, if there would be a gain. And the benefit was. By the beginning of 1920, in the Russian Far East, there was a real political jumble of interventionists (mostly Japanese), short-lived "governments" of various forces and adventurers, remnants of Kolchak, Semenov, red partisans, "green" and hotbeds of Soviet power. In Vladivostok, Japanese and American troops existed at the same time, the Provisional Government of the Far East with the Bolshevik Sergei Lazo.
After the Nikolaev incident, when a large red partisan detachment under the command of anarchist Jacob Tryapitsyna destroyed a Japanese garrison in 12 - 15 in March 1920 in Nikolayevsk-on-Amur, the Japanese command decided to eliminate Soviet power in the Far East. On the night of 4 on 5 on April 1920, a well-prepared attack occurred, martial law was imposed in Vladivostok, Lazo was arrested (in the end of May, he was transferred to white and killed). The few Soviet troops retreated.
The main reason why the Japanese did not want to leave the Far East is raw materials. After that, two years the Japanese fought for Primorye and supported various anti-Soviet elements. All kinds of chieftains like Semenov could not destroy the Soviet power, but they could delay its arrival in Primorye, with external support. And all this time, the Japanese could use the riches of the Russian Far East with impunity.
The Europeans left Siberia. 16 January 1920, the Supreme Council of the Entente decided to lift the blockade from Soviet Russia and the withdrawal of troops from Siberia. 24 February 1920, the Soviet government proposes the Japanese side to begin peace negotiations. But the Japanese did not want to leave the Russian lands. Moreover, the most resolute officers dreamed of Baikal, Angara and Irkutsk. Tokyo refused to Moscow under a very ridiculous pretext: the Japanese stated that they fear for the life and property of their subjects, as well as for peace in Manchuria and Korea. And in early April, the Japanese army began a new phase of intervention, getting rid of the hotbeds of Soviet power in the Far East.
The answer of Moscow was the creation of 6 on April 1920 of the buffer Far East Republic in Transbaikalia. So, began more than two years story DVR. Ataman Semyonov, who was planted and supported by the Japanese, was sitting in Chita. But 25 July 1920, the Japanese troops left Chita, and retreated to the Amur region. The Japanese empire clung to its Far Eastern chance on Russian soil to the last. Unlike the United States, such far-eastern government policies within Japan itself were popular. The Japanese and white retreated only under the pressure of the Red Army and the red partisans.
August 26 1921 in the Japanese Dairen (formerly the Russian port of Dalny in the Chinese Liaodong Peninsula) began negotiations between representatives of the Japanese Empire and the Far Eastern Republic. They walked for a long time, the Japanese side in every possible way delayed them, and in the end tore it off - in April, 1922. Tokyo agreed to these formal negotiations with the sole purpose of being able to state to the world community that it could solve the “Siberian” problem on its own. The fact is that in Washington, from November 12 1921 to February 6, 1922 held the conference of nine great powers on the issue of Pacific and Far Eastern issues and the limitation of naval armaments.
In November, 1921 of the White forces from Primorye went on the offensive and on December 22 occupied Khabarovsk, then advanced westward to Volochaevka station of the Amur railway. In February, units of the People’s Revolutionary Army of the Far Eastern Republic under the command of Vasily Blucher launched an offensive and took the Volochayev positions by storm. February 1922 NRA occupied Khabarovsk, whites retreated under cover of Japanese troops. 14 August, the Japanese announced the impending evacuation - the force in the Far East finally passed to the Soviets. In September, the whites made another attempt to attack, but it was repelled. October 15 4, the NRA forces launched an offensive, the Maritime Operation began (October 1922 - 4 25), the last major operation of the Civil War.
However, in such circumstances, the Japanese did not want to leave just like that. They tried to bargain for something in negotiations with the DRV and the RSFSR in Changchun, China, in September 1922. Now the Japanese side was ready to accept the draft treaty with the DRV, which they had earlier rejected in Dairen, and now - taking into account the complete defeat of the whites in Primorye - the crane is advantageous for Japan. But now Moscow was not inclined to bargain.
October 19 Soviet troops reached Vladivostok, where 20 thousand Japanese military contingent was still stationed. In the course of the talks that began, the Japanese command 24 of December entered into an agreement with the government of the FER on the withdrawal of its troops from the Far East. October 25 the last Japanese and the remnants of the White Guard troops were evacuated, part of the NRA and partisans entered Vladivostok. On the same day, the People’s Assembly of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam declared the power of the Soviets throughout the Russian Far East. 15 November, 1922, the All-Russian Central Executive Committee announced the entry of the Far Eastern Republic into the RSFSR. Thus, the exceptional greed and persistence of the Japanese extended White Guard and intervention on Russian soil to 1922.
Japan was forced to think about how to establish peaceful relations with Soviet Russia. However, in this issue the Japanese government was in no hurry. But life went on, relations with a neighbor had to be adjusted. In January, 1923, the mayor of Tokyo-Goto, suggested starting negotiations between Japan and Russia to clarify the existing “misunderstandings” between them. Later, Goto became chairman of the Japanese-Soviet Society for Cultural Relations. 13 February 1924 of the year the Soviet side sent a notification to the Japanese consul in Vladivostok that the status of the consul of Japan was revoked and he would be treated as a private individual. In addition, Tokyo was influenced by the fact that Great Britain, France and China established diplomatic relations with the USSR. Therefore, Tokyo reacted positively to the next proposal of the Soviet government on the normalization of interstate relations.
14 May 1924 in Beijing began official Soviet-Japanese negotiations. Their result was an agreement from January 20 of 1925. It was the Convention on Basic Principles of Relationship, the two protocols “A” and “B” attached to it. The document restored bilateral diplomatic and consular relations. The Japanese empire undertook to withdraw by mid-May troops from the territory of Northern Sakhalin, which, according to protocol "A", passed under the sovereignty of the Soviet Union. At the same time, the same protocol confirmed that none of the powers has a secret contract or agreement with any third country that could threaten the sovereignty and security of a party to the convention.
The Japanese troops withdrawn from Sakhalin. But according to Japan’s coal and oil concessions, they were signed on July 22 and December 14 on 1925, Japan received from the local concession fields up to 200 thousand tons of oil and 130 thousand tons of coal per year.
The USSR made a number of significant concessions in favor of the Japanese empire in order to establish diplomatic relations and stabilize the situation in the Far East. Moscow was forced to recognize a number of agreements concluded before October1917 of the year, including the Portsmouth Peace Treaty of 1905. However, the declaration of the Soviet government, which was attached to the convention, emphasized that the USSR did not share with the former tsarist government the political responsibility for concluding the Portsmouth Treaty of 1905. The parties also agreed to proceed with the revision of the Russian-Japanese fishing convention approved in 1907 year. The Soviet government agreed to grant Japanese citizens, companies concessions, to use raw natural resources in the USSR. Details of the terms of contracts for concessions were given in the protocol "B".
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