Xi told Putin China no longer supports Japan’s claim to Russian-held islands, source says, in shift from Mao’s position

Chinese President Xi Jinping told his Russian counterpart that Beijing ‘does not take either side’ regarding the Kuril Islands, a source said

The change in China’s position could make it more difficult to settle the decades-long dispute over the islands that Moscow seized at the end of WWII

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Chinese President Xi Jinping shakes hands with Russian President Vladimir Putin following their talks at the Kremlin in Moscow, last month. Photo: Sputnik via Reuters

Published: 12:32pm, 4 Apr 2023Updated: 12:50pm, 4 Apr 2023

Chinese President Xi Jinping did not support Japan’s claim over the Russian-held islands off Hokkaido in his talks with Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin last month, according to a Chinese source familiar with the matter, ditching a long-held stance of recognising them as Tokyo’s.

Xi told Putin in their meetings in Moscow that China “does not take either side” regarding the territorial row, in a shift to neutrality from China’s position indicated by then Chinese leader Mao Zedong in 1964 to view the four disputed islands as belonging to Japan, the source said.

Bilateral negotiations over the islands known as the Northern Territories in Japan and the Southern Kurils in Russia have been suspended since Tokyo imposed punitive sanctions against Moscow following its invasion of Ukraine.

Russian missile launchers being deployed on the Kuril Islands chain in December 2021. The islands, known as the Northern Territories in Japan, were seized by Moscow at the end of WWII. Photo: Russian Defence Ministry Press Service via AP

The change in China’s position could make it more difficult to settle the decades-long dispute as Moscow is unlikely to concede on the issue now with backing from Beijing, observers say.

In the talks last month, Putin stressed the importance of promoting a special duty-free zone set up on the contested islands last year and called for investment by Chinese companies, according to the source.

With an improvement of Tokyo-Seoul ties marked by summit talks between Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol on March 16, Putin said Russia cannot expect investment from South Korean firms, the source added.

In response, Xi conveyed to Putin China’s neutral stance on the territorial row but declined to make it clear whether Beijing would let its businesses join the project, saying he will leave the matter to Zheng Shanjie, chairman of the National Development and Reform Commission, the source said.