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Soviet Union [USSR] Japan
In 1985 trade with the Soviet Union accounted for 1.6 percent
of Japanese exports and 1 percent of Japanese imports; Japan was
the Soviet Union's fourth most important Western trading partner
(see
table 49, Appendix A). Japan's principal exports to the Soviet
Union included steel (approximately 40 percent of Japan's exports
to the Soviet Union), chemicals, and textiles. The Soviet Union
exported timber, nonferrous metals, rare-earth metals, and fuel to
Japan. In 1986, despite a reduction in trade between the two
countries, the Soviet Union had a trade deficit with Japan. In 1987
trade dropped another 20 percent.
Numerous controversies have thwarted Soviet-Japanese trade. The
Toshiba affair, in which Japan was accused of shipping equipment to
the Soviet Union that was prohibited by CoCom, caused JapaneseSoviet trade to decrease in 1987. In addition, the Japanese
constantly prodded the Soviet Union to return the islands off the
Japanese island of Hokkaido that had come under Soviet control
after World War II
(see Soviet Union USSR - Soviet-Japanese Relations
, ch. 10). For its
part, the Soviet Union complained of the trade imbalance and static
structure of Japanese-Soviet trade.
In the late 1980s, the Soviet Union tried to increase its
exports to Japan and diversify the nature of the countries'
relationship. Soviet proposals have included establishing joint
enterprises to exploit natural resources in Siberia and the Soviet
Far East, specifically, coal in the southern Yakutiya area of
Siberia and petroleum on Sakhalin; cooperating in the monetary and
credit fields; jointly surveying and studying marine resources and
peaceful uses of space; and establishing joint activities in other
countries. The Soviet Union also proposed branching out into joint
ventures in the chemical and wood chip industries, electronics,
machine tools, and fish processing. The first Japanese-Soviet joint
enterprise, a wood-processing plant in the Soviet Far East, began
operation in March 1988. The Soviet Union provided the raw
materials, and Japan supplied the technology, equipment, and
managerial expertise.
Data as of May 1989
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