Chinese President Xi Jinping did not support Japan’s claims to the Kuril Islands during talks in Moscow with Vladimir Putin, signaling a change in Beijing’s position, Japan’s Kyodo news agency reported, citing a Chinese government source familiar with the negotiations.

According to the source cited, Xi told him during his official visit to Russia last month that China “does not take sides” in the territorial dispute between Moscow and Tokyo, a reversal of the position expressed by Mao Zedong to tens of thousands of people. many years ago.

“China’s shift in position could make it even more difficult to reach an agreement on the decade-long dispute, as Moscow is unlikely to make concessions on the issue now that it has Beijing’s support,” Kyodo news agency said.

The information that appeared in the Japanese press was immediately noticed by the Russian TASS, one of the Russian state news agencies, reminding that “Mao Zedong expressed support for Japan on this issue in 1964, and since then China has not raised the issue.”

In particular, the founder of Communist China told a delegation of the Socialist Party of Japan that arrived in Beijing that year that the Kuril Islands “must be returned,” effectively declaring his country’s support for the dispute, which dates back to the end of World War II. .

Where does the dispute between Russia and Japan come from regarding the Kuril Islands?

The Soviet Union occupied these islands in the final days of the conflict after launching a large-scale military offensive against Japan, which some historians believe contributed at least as much to Emperor Hirohito’s decision to order the surrender as did the dropping of the nuclear bombs on Japan. the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, USA.

The Soviet invasion on August 9, 1945 led to the rapid conquest of Manchuria, an area vital to supplying Japan with natural resources, and destroyed the powerful Japanese army stationed in the region north of the Korean peninsula.

Moscow and Tokyo have never signed a peace treaty since the end of World War II, only an armistice, as the Russian invasion took place despite a military non-aggression pact signed between the two sides in 1941.

The Kyodo news agency notes that on Chinese maps the Kuril Islands, which were occupied during the Soviet attack in 1945, are described as “occupied by Russia.”

In 1951, Japan relinquished sovereignty over some of the islands as part of the San Francisco Treaty, but says this never applied to the islands of Itorofu, Kunasiri, Shikotan and Habomai, which are part of the archipelago.

Tensions between Russia and Japan after the start of the war in Ukraine

The territorial dispute over islands claimed by Russia and which Japan calls its “Northern Territories” escalated after Japan joined Western sanctions against Moscow after the start of the war against Ukraine.

On March 21, Russia suspended talks on a formal peace treaty with Japan after Tokyo imposed broad sanctions against it, including exports of semiconductors, a vital component of Russia’s defense industry.

In a diplomatic document released on April 22, Tokyo’s foreign ministry called four small islands in the northern archipelago “illegally occupied” by Russia after Japan revoked the most-favored status granted to Russia two days ago.

The two countries have also expelled each other’s diplomats since the start of the war in Ukraine and escalating tensions over the Kuril Islands.

Late last year, the Japanese government announced a record defense budget amid rising tensions with Russia, as well as China.

In December, Russia accused Japan of abandoning decades of pacifist policies and embracing “rampant militarization,” responding to Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida’s $320 billion defense plan in a week.

In February of this year, Moscow also accused Japan of “Russophobia” because of the Tokyo government’s stance on the war in Ukraine.

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