Chinese and Japanese Media Coverage of the Issue of the Kuril Islands
The article analyses the issue of the Chinese and Japanese media coverage of the problem of the territory belonging of the Kuril Islands. The author analyzed the materials of the electronic version of the main Chinese social-political newspaper Zhen'min Zhibao, opinions of independent journalists of the Chinese microblog service Sina Weibo, the Hong Kong newspaper Wen Wei Po, the Japanese web paper Japan Business Press. These media are very popular and have large audiences. The aim of the article is to find out what opinions China and Japan have of the current negotiations. Russia’s and Japans’ positions are clear: for Russia a poor outcome of the negotiations means signing an unfavourable strategic treaty that cannot be allowed to happen. For Japan the islands are a treasure in terms of both the geopolitical and raw materials aspects. China, trying to cooperate with both Japan and Russia, avoids expressing a direct and open opinion on the issue and remains objectively neutral.