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 Habomai - have been marked on Chinese maps as Japanese territories occupied by Russia. China will now maintain a neutral position. This was reported by the Kyodo agency.
In the 1960s, the decision on the ownership of the islands of Japan was made by Mao Zedong. China's current leader, Xi Jinping, said during recent talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin that China would henceforth "take neither side" in the territorial dispute.
The publication's source claims that at the March 20-21 meeting in Moscow, Putin spoke to Xi about the "importance of developing a special duty-free zone", the bill on the creation of which in the Southern Kurils was approved by the Russian State Duma 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.
Xi did not comment on the investment opportunity, saying he would leave the matter to the discretion of the chairman of the National Development and Reform Commission.
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 been making territorial claims all these years. After the start of Russia's war with Ukraine, Japan called the Kuril Islands "illegally occupied" for the first time since 2003.