Japan Protests Chinese Delegation Visit to Disputed Kuril Island

Japan has formally protested an official Chinese delegation's visit to Iturup, an island in the Russian-controlled Kuril chain that Tokyo claims. Japanese Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi called the visit "completely unacceptable," asserting that third-country officials should not conduct activities on the Northern Territories as if they were Russian. This incident underscores growing Russia-China alignment and complicates the ongoing territorial dispute preventing a formal WWII peace treaty.