Symbolic imageAfter Putin's Thursday tour of Iturup, the first by a Russian president, Tokyo summoned Moscow's ambassador in protest. Beijing has now sided with Russia, urging Japan to respect the postwar order on the Kurils.
Russia and Japan both claim the four southernmost Kuril Islands, which the Soviet Union took at the end of World War II and Japan calls the Northern Territories. The dispute has kept the two countries from signing a peace treaty ever since.
Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Guo Jiakun called on Japan to respect the international order on the Kuril question, saying the results of the victory in the war against Nazism must be respected and defended. Analysts told the South China Morning Post that Vladimir Putin's first visit to the disputed southern Kurils points to a coordinated Russian and Chinese push to pressure Tokyo.
Vladimir Putin visited Iturup on Thursday, the first trip by a Russian president to the disputed Kuril Islands. Tokyo summoned Russia's ambassador and called the visit absolutely unacceptable.