一九二〇年代後半におけるソ連の北サハリン政策

トラスト・サハリンネフチの設立と利権供与

抄録

In the latter half of the 1920s, Soviet leaders needed to rethink their policy toward Japan, both to maintain friendly relations with the Japanese, considering their relationship with China, as well as to keep a close check on Japan’s growth and expansion. In order to better understand their policy, the present study examined Northern Sakhalin as an example, as the implications of their policy would be clearly visible due to the presence of Japanese mining concession companies. Using official USSR documents, this study found that from 1925 onward, the USSR government mainly focused on developing the mining industry in Northern Sakhalin with domestic capital in order to prevent Japanese expansion and displayed a passive attitude toward the other two measures proposed, which were the invitation of concessions to a third power, and the obstruction of Japanese concession agreements with companies through governmental power. In 1928, however, when the politburo learnt of the growth of a Japanese company with concessions, they reconsidered their policy and decided to adopt the two additional measures mentioned above. Nevertheless, the USSR’s People’s Commissariat for Foreign Affairs urged to avoid inviting more concessions. Eventually, the policy toward Japan came to include only one additional measure. These findings suggest that around 1930, Soviet policy toward Japan was implemented in an incomplete form, as compared to their original plan. This could have influenced Japan-Soviet relations in the Far East in the 1930s.