The Chinese side skillfully responded to the ownership of the four northern islands, making Japan speechless.
At the regular press conference on February 14, a reporter asked China's spokesman Zhao Lijian about the sovereignty of the four northern islands (South Kuril Islands).
Zhao Lijian stressed, "I have noted relevant reports that the issue of the South Kuril Islands is a bilateral affair between Russia and Japan, and should be properly resolved by the two sides through friendly consultations. China has always insisted that the victorious achievements of the World Anti-Fascist War should be respected and observed.
China's stance on the four northern islands has been cautious, as evidenced by two reversals in history. In the 50s, due to the Sino-Soviet alliance, China supported the Soviet occupation of the four northern islands and marked them as Soviet territory on the map, but still used the Japanese name "Northern Four Islands" in the textual expression.
However, as China-Japan relations have changed, China's relations with Russia have gradually strengthened, so China needs to be cautious about the four northern islands.
In the last century, Sino-Soviet relations were tense and Sino-Japanese relations were friendly, so China firmly supported Japan's sovereignty claims on the issue of the four northern islands, and even marked them as Japanese territory on official maps.
However, in recent years, China's relations with Russia have gradually warmed up and become an important strategic partner, which has made China's position on the issue of the four northern islands ambiguous, and it no longer explicitly supports the four northern islands as belonging to Russia.
Still, China stresses that the current state of the four northern islands is the result of victory in the anti-fascist war, not Russian territory.
The meaning of this passage is that although the Chinese side does not explicitly support Russia's position on the four northern islands, it has actually supported the Russian side by showing respect for the results of the anti-fascist war in World War II.
This is because the Soviet Union occupied the four northern islands after World War II and incorporated them into its territory, while Russia inherited the territorial rights and interests of the Soviet Union. Although China supports Russia's sovereignty over the four northern islands, it also mentioned that Russia and Japan need to formally sign a peace treaty to resolve the issue once and for all.
In general, the Chinese side has been very shrewd in its stance on the four northern islands.
Historically, the positions of the Soviet Union and Russia on the four northern islands have not been static. On two occasions, in 1956 and 2004, they said they could return some of the islands of the four northern islands to Japan.
In 1956, the Soviet Union and Japan signed the "Soviet-Japanese Joint Declaration," the main content of which was that the Soviet Union would repatriate all Japanese prisoners of war of the Kwantung Army who were digging potatoes in Siberia, and reached a basic consensus on territorial issues, clearing the way for the defeated country Japan to return to the international community.
Article 9 of the Declaration states that the Soviet Union and Japan will continue to negotiate the conclusion of a peace treaty, and that once the peace treaty is signed, the Soviet Union will return the islands of Hamai and Shikotan to Japan.
However, due to the existence of the Cold War between the East and the West, the Soviet-Japanese peace treaty was never finally reached, so the return of the two islands became an unrealizable vision.
In 2004, Russia offered to return the four northern islands of Hamai and Shikotan to Japan, but with the condition that after the return of the two islands, the territorial dispute between Russia and Japan would be resolved, and Japan would not be able to claim any more islands.
However, the two islands of Ikemai and Shikotan account for only 7% of the total area of the four northern islands, and Kunashir and Setsu are the real big islands. Japan rejected Russia's partial surrender proposal, insisting on the recovery of the four northern islands in their entirety, and offered to provide economic assistance.
By implication, they can use 2$5 trillion to buy back the four northern islands. In this regard, Putin said that Russia has many territories, but not an inch is superfluous.
Japan's strategy of trying to exchange economic means for the four islands has failed, and it has repeatedly expressed a tough stance. However, Russia insisted that the four northern islands were its territory and made it clear that it would not negotiate with Japan on territorial issues.
On territorial issues, there is only war, no consultation. If anyone dares to snatch it, be prepared to accept a hydrogen bomb attack. Therefore, whenever Japan claims sovereignty over the four northern islands, Putin's answer is only one word: "Get out!".