China changed its position on the Kuril Islands for the first time in 60 years

For the first time in 60 years, China has changed its position on the ownership of the South Kuril Islands. Since 1964, four islands — Iturup, Kunashir, Shikotan, and Khabomai — have been marked on Chinese maps as Japanese territories occupied by Russia. Now China will adhere to a neutral position. This was reported by the Kyodo agency.

In the 1960s, Mao Zedong made the decision on whether the islands belonged to Japan. The current Chinese leader, Xi Jinping, during recent negotiations with Russian President Vladimir Putin, stated that China “does not accept either side” in the territorial dispute.

The source of the publication asserts that at a meeting on March 20-21 in Moscow, Putin spoke to himself about the “importance of the development of a special duty-free zone”, the bill on the creation of which in the South Kuril Islands was adopted by the State Duma of Russia in early March. Tokyo condemned its creation, and the Russian authorities indicated that one of the goals was to emphasize the islands’ belonging to Russia. A similar zone was previously created in the annexed Crimea.

Sy did not comment on the possibility of investments, saying that “he will leave this issue to the discretion of the chairman of the National Commission for Development and Reforms.

According to the publication’s source, China’s position may complicate the settlement of the territorial dispute between Japan and Russia.

• The USSR annexed Iturup, Kunashir, Shikotan and Khabomai to its territory as a result of the Second World War. In 1956, the Soviet Union and Japan signed a peace declaration, according to which Shikotan and Habomai were to be handed over to Japan after the conclusion of a peace treaty. But the Japanese authorities in the following years insisted only on the return of all the islands. The peace treaty has not yet been signed.
• Japan has expressed territorial claims throughout these years. After the start of Russia’s war with Ukraine, Japan called the Kuril Islands “illegally occupied” for the first time since 2003.