Chinese business visit to Kuril Islands will do nothing to ease tensions in Tokyo

A business delegation from northeastern China has visited a Russian-controlled, Japanese-claimed island off Hokkaido to explore joint economic projects, a move that has prompted protests from Tokyo.

Officials and business leaders from Heilongjiang province, which borders Russia’s far east, travelled to Etorofu – known to Russians as Iturup – to survey potential investment opportunities, according to the Sakhalin Oblast government, which oversees the island.

Etorofu is the largest island in a disputed archipelago that Moscow administers as the Southern Kurils and Tokyo claims as the Northern Territories, situated off Hokkaido in northern Japan.

The delegation explored opportunities in aquaculture, seafood processing and tourism development, the announcement on Tuesday said. The visitors showed particular interest in cultivating sea urchins and sea cucumbers, it added.