China has "changed its mind" and now does not consider the Kurils to be occupied by Russia

This was reported by the Japanese newspaper Kyodo, citing sources familiar with the situation.

Since 1964, China considered the Kuril Islands to be Japanese territory occupied by Russia. Now the situation has changed, and China has taken a "neutral position" on the issue.

Chinese leader Xi Jinping, in a meeting with Russian dictator Vladimir Putin at the end of March, said he "does not support Japan's territorial claim to the Kuril Islands".

China now takes neither side in this territorial dispute. Before Putin and Xi met, the Kuril Islands were always marked on Chinese maps as occupied by Russia.

It is worth recalling that the USSR annexed the islands of Iturup, Kunashir, Shikotan and Habomai, which belonged to Japan, after World War II. In 1956, the Soviet Union and Japan signed a peace declaration, under which Shikotan and Habomai were to be returned to Japan. But Japan wanted all of the islands back. The peace treaty was never signed.