November 28, 2001

Sino - Russian Relations


Sino - Russian Relations

On December 9, 1999, China and Russia put to rest their thirty year old border dispute. Three accords were negotiated and signed by Chinese Foreign Minister Tang Jiaxuan and Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov, after a brief meeting between Presidents Boris Yeltsin and Jiang Zemin.

Two of the accords addressed the boundaries of the 2,800 mile frontier along the Russian far eastern and Chinese border. The resources of the Amur River region and several river islands were the focus of the third accord. As you can see from the map, below, the Amur River forms the border between northern China and far eastern Russia. In April, 1999, Russia and China agreed to split the 2,444 river islands equally between the two countries. These islands are uninhabited. Three other islands remained disputed and were included in this third accord.

This thirty year dispute began in 1969 with a brief, but costly, battle over Damansky Island (Zhenbao). Roughly 200 lives were lost. Later the same year, Russia and China battled over the border of the northeast Chinese province of Xinjiang and modern Kazakhstan.

Disputes over the Russia - China border go back further than thirty years; actually, a little over 300 years. At stake has been the massive, 2,800 mile frontier between Siberia and Heilongjiang (Manchuria). The region is characterized by numerous rivers, mountains and heavy forests. The rough terrain and the long standing border disputes have made the region almost impossible to map and define.

In 1689, the first border agreement was signed between the two empires. Russia agreed to let China have control of both sides of the Amur River. Russia's Primorsky region was placed under joint control in 1858. Primorsky is located in Russia's southeastern most tip with a coastline formed by the Sea of Japan.

The Chinese Empire not being what it once was, agreed to an 1860 Russian accord which drew the boundary lines between the two countries. The result was very close to the contemporary form.

With the Bolshevik revolution of 1917, the city of Harbin, in then Manchuria, became the center for Russians involved in rebellion against the new Soviet government. This lasted until roughly 1931 when Japan invaded Machuria. Russia and China's common threat, Japan, set aside their disputes, until the 1960's. With the Cold War in full bloom, the two countries began struggling form dominance of the Communist areas of the world. Border tension rose to its height in 1969. To defuse further aggression, China and Russia entered into official negotiations.

Russia and China signed their first, modern border accord in 1991. This paved the way to further detailed negotiations. After the fall of the Soviet Union, more accords had to be agreed upon between China and the former Soviet States of Tajikistan, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan (1997).

Like this post? Get a weekly email digest + member-only deals

Some of Our Books

Woe From Wit (bilingual)

Woe From Wit (bilingual)

One of the most famous works of Russian literature, the four-act comedy in verse Woe from Wit skewers staid, nineteenth century Russian society, and it positively teems with “winged phrases” that are essential colloquialisms for students of Russian and Russian culture.
Davai! The Russians and Their Vodka

Davai! The Russians and Their Vodka

In this comprehensive, quixotic and addictive book, Edwin Trommelen explores all facets of the Russian obsession with vodka. Peering chiefly through the lenses of history and literature, Trommelen offers up an appropriately complex, rich and bittersweet portrait, based on great respect for Russian culture.
Driving Down Russia's Spine

Driving Down Russia's Spine

The story of the epic Spine of Russia trip, intertwining fascinating subject profiles with digressions into historical and cultural themes relevant to understanding modern Russia. 
White Magic

White Magic

The thirteen tales in this volume – all written by Russian émigrés, writers who fled their native country in the early twentieth century – contain a fair dose of magic and mysticism, of terror and the supernatural. There are Petersburg revenants, grief-stricken avengers, Lithuanian vampires, flying skeletons, murders and duels, and even a ghostly Edgar Allen Poe.
The Moscow Eccentric

The Moscow Eccentric

Advance reviewers are calling this new translation "a coup" and "a remarkable achievement." This rediscovered gem of a novel by one of Russia's finest writers explores some of the thorniest issues of the early twentieth century.
Murder at the Dacha

Murder at the Dacha

Senior Lieutenant Pavel Matyushkin has a problem. Several, actually. Not the least of them is the fact that a powerful Soviet boss has been murdered, and Matyushkin's surly commander has given him an unreasonably short time frame to close the case.
Turgenev Bilingual

Turgenev Bilingual

A sampling of Ivan Turgenev's masterful short stories, plays, novellas and novels. Bilingual, with English and accented Russian texts running side by side on adjoining pages.
The Pet Hawk of the House of Abbas

The Pet Hawk of the House of Abbas

This exciting new trilogy by a Russian author – who has been compared to Orhan Pamuk and Umberto Eco – vividly recreates a lost world, yet its passions and characters are entirely relevant to the present day. Full of mystery, memorable characters, and non-stop adventure, The Pet Hawk of the House of Abbas is a must read for lovers of historical fiction and international thrillers.  
The Latchkey Murders

The Latchkey Murders

Senior Lieutenant Pavel Matyushkin is back on the case in this prequel to the popular mystery Murder at the Dacha, in which a serial killer is on the loose in Khrushchev’s Moscow...
The Samovar Murders

The Samovar Murders

The murder of a poet is always more than a murder. When a famous writer is brutally stabbed on the campus of Moscow’s Lumumba University, the son of a recently deposed African president confesses, and the case assumes political implications that no one wants any part of.

About Us

Russian Life is a publication of a 30-year-young, award-winning publishing house that creates a bimonthly magazine, books, maps, and other products for Russophiles the world over.

Latest Posts

Our Contacts

Russian Life
73 Main Street, Suite 402
Montpelier VT 05602

802-223-4955