OREANDA-NEWS. China hopes for a successful settlement of the issue that has arisen between Russia and Japan and the improvement of their relations. This was stated by the official representative of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of China, Wang Wenbin, reports TASS.

At the same time, the diplomat did not specify what steps the Chinese side expects from Moscow and Tokyo.

On the eve of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Russia announced the withdrawal of Moscow from the dialogue with Japan on a peace treaty regarding the Kuril Islands.

Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida called the corresponding decision of the Russian Federation "unacceptably tough."

Russia and Japan have been unable to conclude a peace treaty following the results of World War II for many years due to the issue of ownership of the Kuril Islands. The Japanese side believes that it owns the three islands of Iturup, Shikotan, Kunashir and the Habomai group of islands. Moscow considers these territories to be its own and does not even recognize the very fact of a territorial dispute.

In 1956, the USSR and Japan signed a joint declaration, which assumed that the USSR would transfer Tokyo Habomai and Shikotan after the conclusion of a peace treaty.