Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Mao Ning

Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said on Wednesday that a delegation from China’s Heilongjiang Province recently visited Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk, the administrative center of the Sakhalin Oblast, a sister region of Heilongjiang Province, and carried out friendly exchanges with local sides. Mao said that she would not comment on the commercial activities conducted by private enterprises during the visit. The remarks were made in response to a question from a Japanese journalist, who asked for China’s comment on reports that Russia had announced that a delegation from China's Heilongjiang Province had visited an island of the Southern Kurils.

When asked to comment on that Japanese side claimed the relevant incident is “completely unacceptable” and Tokyo has conveyed its stance to China through diplomatic channels, Mao added that China consistently maintains that the outcomes of the victory of the World Anti-Fascist War should be respected and upheld.

Russia and Japan are involved in a territorial row over Iturup, which Japan calls Etorofu, and the other three islands off Japan's northern prefecture of Hokkaido. The four islands that are under Russia's control are called the Northern Territories in Japan and the Southern Kurils in Russia, according to Xinhua News Agency.