Islands dispute won't be resolved any time soon

Editor's note: At the Munich Security Conference in Germany on Feb 16, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and his Japanese counterpart Taro Kono had a meeting to discuss a possible peace treaty and the key obstacle in the way of it - their dispute over four islands, which Russia calls the Kuril Islands and Japan the Northern Territories. China Youth Daily comments on Thursday:

This is the second meeting between the two on the issue this year. Moscow insists on Tokyo's recognition of its sovereignty over the four islands as a prerequisite for a peace treaty, which Tokyo cannot accept.

After Shinzo Abe was re-elected as leader of the Liberal Democratic Party on Sept 20, he won his third term as Japan's prime minister, which ends in September 2021, and he is likely to become the longest serving prime minister by November this year.