China says Russia agrees to return disputed border land
Published 10:46 pm Monday, July 21, 2008
BEIJING — China and Russia signed an agreement Monday that ended a long-running dispute over their contested border, the scene of military clashes between the once-bitter rivals.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov signed the agreement after meeting his Chinese counterpart, Yang Jiechi, to discuss the eastern part of the 2,700-mile border.
The border tug-of-war reaches back centuries to the competition for territory as imperial China and czarist Russia expanded toward each other.
The struggle over border areas resulted in violent clashes in the 1960s and ’70s, when strained relations were at their most acrimonious, feeding fears that the conflict could erupt into nuclear war.
No details were released on how the issues were resolved. But the China Daily newspaper said Russia was to return 67 square miles of territory on the northeast border with China.
The newspaper said Russia will return Yinlong Island (known as Tarabarov Island in Russian) and half of Heixiazi Island (Bolshoi Ussuriysky) to China. The areas lie in northeast China where the Heilongjiang river, which becomes the Amur river in Russia, and the Wusulijiang river meet.
