Kyodo: China changed its position on the question of ownership of the southern Kurils
Photo: Alexander Astafiev
For the first time in almost 60 years, China has changed its position on the question of ownership of the southern part of the Kuril Islands, while maintaining neutrality, Kyodo reported. At the same time, the agency refers to sources close to the Chinese side and emphasizes that the decision brought Beijing and Moscow even closer together.
Former President of the PRC Mao Zedong, as the agency reminds, expressed support for Japan on this territorial issue in 1964, and since then this topic has not been discussed in the PRC. However, Chinese President Xi Jinping indicated during a meeting in Moscow with Russian leader Vladimir Putin, according to a Kyodo source, that China “will not take the position of any party.”
China's position on the issue of ownership of the southern part of the Kuril, according to the Japanese agency ” will further complicate negotiations'' on a peace treaty.
Since the mid-20th century, Russia and Japan have been negotiating to work out a peace agreement following the results of World War II. The main obstacle to this is still territorial disagreements regarding the rights to the southern part of the Kuril Islands.