The island of gibberish and the big Ussuriysk belong to whom. Putin gave China one and a half islands: losses are being calculated in the Far East

Tarabarov(official name in Chinese Yinlundao, whale. ex. 银龙岛, pinyin: Yinlongdǎo - "Silver Dragon Island" listen)) is a river island in the Amur River.

Tarabarov Island, together with the neighboring island of Bolshoy Ussuriysky and the small islands surrounding them, de facto belonged to the USSR since 1929, and after the collapse of the USSR, to the Russian Federation. Since 1964, the territory has been disputed by China.

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An excerpt characterizing Tarabarov

Responding to a remark by a journalist from the international information holding Bloomberg, “You are not so worried about the territory on the eastern flank. You gave the island of Tarabarov, for example, to China in 2004,” Putin said: “We didn’t give anything away, these were territories that were disputed and in respect of which we negotiated with the Chinese People's Republic for 40 years".

Well, of course they didn't! How they gave it back! And not once gave!

The first agreement between the USSR and the PRC on the Soviet-Chinese state border on its Eastern part was signed by Gorbachev on May 16, 1991 and ratified by the Supreme Council of the Russian Federation on February 13, 1992. Although, according to the Declaration of Sovereignty of the Russian Federation of June 12, 1990, any changes in the territory of the Russian Federation could not occur without the will of the people, expressed through a referendum. But there was no referendum. The rulers never asked the citizens of the USSR, and then the Russian Federation, whether they wanted to give their land to the Chinese.

By agreement of 1991, the border was drawn along the fairway of navigable rivers and in the middle of non-navigable ones. Prior to this, the border mainly passed along the Chinese coast, in accordance with the early Russian-Chinese agreements. As a result of this agreement, Russia gave China about 600 islands on the Amur and Ussuri rivers, as well as 10 square kilometers of land. Another one and a half thousand hectares of land in Primorye Russia lost during the demarcation of the border in November 1995, in accordance with the 1994 Agreement between Russia and China on the Russian-Chinese state border in its Western part.

After Mikhail Gorbachev signed an agreement in 1991 under which the border with China passed along the Amur channel, the Chinese began to dispute the ownership of the Bolshoi Ussuriysky and Tarabarov Islands in the Khabarovsk region, as well as the Bolshoy Island in the Amur Region, to Russia. Then Boris Yeltsin announced that these islands had become disputable. And they became controversial, among other things, thanks to the long-term efforts of the Chinese to change the channel of the Amur. For example, the Chinese for several years covered the Kazakevich channel in the Khabarovsk Territory with soil and flooded a barge with stones in it. As a result, the Kazakevich channel became unnavigable.
In the same way, the Chinese, in violation of international treaties, unilaterally strengthened their banks of the Amur and erected about 600 kilometers of dams, which gradually led to a change in the fairway of the river.

Well, the border guards from the Khasansky district of Primorsky Krai, being real "patriots" of their country, in the 90s themselves went to Russian government with the initiative to move the border towards Russia, citing the fact that it is difficult for them to serve some parts of hard-to-reach terrain. And so they offered to give these lands to China. 300 hectares! The Chinese did not give up.

In 1991, then Soviet Union agreed that one and a half thousand square meters. km of Soviet land will be developed jointly with China. That is, citizens of the USSR and China could mow hay on an equal footing, and in the rivers adjacent to the islands they could fish. As a result, the Chinese began to use these islands alone. Soviet, and then Russian border guards simply did not let their citizens into the islands. Five years later, the islands went to China.

On October 15, 2004, in Beijing, Putin signed the "Additional Agreement on the Russian-Chinese State Border on its Eastern Part", which spoke of the voluntary, I emphasize - voluntary - transfer to China of Tarabarov Island, part of the Big Ussuri Island in the Khabarovsk Territory and Bolshoy Island in the Chita Region . All these islands were of strategic importance for the state. A large fortified area and a frontier post were located on Bolshoi Ussuriysky, and over Tarabarov there was a take-off trajectory for military aircraft of the 11th Air Force and Air Defense Army (now the 3rd Air Force and Air Defense Command), which is stationed in Khabarovsk. In addition, on these islands there were dachas of Khabarovsk residents, hayfields ... On about. Large, with an area of ​​70 sq. km. in the Chita region, there was a frontier post and there was a fence drinking water for part of the region.
During the years of giving land to China, only two governors - Nazratenko of Primorsky Krai and Khabarovsk Ishaev - resisted the transfer of Russian territories to China. Nazratenko wrote letters to Chernomyrdin with a request to revise the 1991 border agreement with China and was going to set up a "Pillar of Shame" in the center of Vladivostok as a sign of protest, and Viktor Ishaev built a pontoon bridge connecting Khabarovsk with about. Bolshoy Ussuri, where he built the chapel of the martyr-war Victor in memory of those who died defending the Far Eastern borders of Russia. Ishaeev also began earthworks to connect Tarabarov Island and Bolshoi Ussuriysky, and he didn’t let the Chinese into the Khabarovsk Territory especially. “The territory is ours, Russian. So it was, is and will be,” said Ishaev. But in 2005, without asking the citizens of Russia, Putin gave China Tarabarov Island, half of Bolshoy Ussuriysky Island (half, apparently, only because the chapel built by Ishaev turned out to be on the island) and Bolshoi Island in the Chita region. A total of 337 sq. km.

Now on the island of Yinlundao, as the island of Tarabarov is now called, the Chinese border guards take the oath.
The “deferred dispute” method, developed in the PRC back in the 1970s, turned out to be very effective. This method boils down to bringing border-territorial disputes beyond the scope of bilateral international relations and wait until "the conditions are ripe" to resolve the issue on terms acceptable to China. The Chinese did not wait long this time until conditions favorable to them came. In 25 years, China received from Russia as much land as it could not get for a century and a half.
Now Japan is using exactly the same method of “postponed dispute”. And again Gorbachev, Yeltsin and Putin...

In the early nineties, the Japanese offered Russia money for the Kuril Islands - 28 billion dollars. In just one year of the official catch of seafood in the waters of the Kuril Islands, you can get more than $ 4 billion, that is, in 7 years Japan would have dashingly returned this money to itself. The Third (Extraordinary) Congress of People's Deputies of Russia (March-April 1991) accused Gorbachev of trying to sell part of the State territory to foreigners. The Kuriles were not sold, but during his visit to Japan, Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev recognized equal rights USSR and Japan in the dispute over the ownership of the South Kuriles.
Next was a five-stage plan by Russian President Boris Yeltsin to resolve the territorial problem between Russia and Japan. In particular, at one of the stages, a joint protectorate of Russia and Japan over the South Kuriles was supposed.

In 2001, at a meeting between President Putin and Prime Minister Mori, an informal agreement was concluded on the phased transfer of the "Northern Territories" to Japan: first, the Lesser Kuril Ridge and Shikotan Island, and only then the signing of a peace treaty. And the islands of Kunashir and Iturup will be given to the joint economic use of Russia and Japan until their status is finally determined. “I have information that during Putin’s visit (2001) a memorandum was signed, which even provides for campaigning events by the Russian media, that is, this will not be Japanese propaganda, but the Japanese government will pay for the Russian media information and relevant publications will be submitted, which will reflect the Japanese point of view and will be imposed public opinion Russia,” Boris Tkachenko, a leading researcher at the Institute of History, Archeology and Ethnography of the Peoples of the Far East, said at a round table meeting “Russian-Japanese territorial dispute: history, modernity, prospects for settlement”.

Very well and briefly explained the essence of the peace treaty with Japan, the former governor Sakhalin region, and now Deputy Boris Fedorov, director of the Institute of Europe of the Russian Academy of Sciences: “We don't really need a peace treaty. We have normal relations with Japan, and the declaration of 1956 opened these relations. We did not have a peace treaty with Germany, nevertheless, the unification of Germany took place. And Germany is now our close partner in Europe. Japan needs this agreement, and only for one purpose - to fix the demand for the transfer of these 4 islands there. President Putin adopted the wording that was invented in Kozyrev's time (Andrey Kozyrev - Russian Foreign Minister from 1990 to 1996, now a US citizen. - E.M.). Now the wording “border demarcation” has come into fashion again, as was done on the Amur with China. But here we are talking about the revision of the results of the Second World War and the violation of the integrity of the Russian state. And according to the Constitution of the USSR and the RSFSR, which was in force in 1956, the territory of any republic cannot be transferred to another state without the consent of this republic. If we look at the area of ​​the South Kuriles with water areas, then in terms of area they make up Austria plus Greece. Or more than 50% of the entire land area of ​​Japan. Imagine what a large area we are talking about! Therefore, the Japanese are striving to get these islands.

Now the Kuriles are the exclusive economic zone of the Russian Federation in the Sea of ​​Okhotsk, and also have deep-water straits through which the Russian fleet can enter the open ocean. By giving the Kuriles to Japan, Russia will lose this priority.

After Putin handed over Russian land to China in 2004, State Duma deputy Tamara Pletneva said: “We shouldn’t give up our land ... Here is Putin’s trip again, again we don’t know anything, what he signed there, along what borders with China. Here immediately following, please you and Japan with their claims ... "
By the way, in the recommendations of the parliamentary hearings of the Sakhalin Regional Duma, adopted back in 2001, it was said: “The Government of the Russian Federation should prepare and submit a draft law on the denunciation of part 2 of article 9 of the Joint Declaration of the USSR and Japan of October 19, 1956 in terms of the consent of the USSR to the transfer of the islands of Khabamai (Small Kuril Ridge) and Shikotan (Shikotan) to Japan after the conclusion of a peace treaty between the USSR (RF) and Japan. Stop the practice of granting foreign ships the right to extract marine resources in the Yuzhno-Kuril fishing area as infringing on the interests of Russian sailors. When preparing and discussing a draft peace treaty with Japan, proceed from the following: Russia does not need a peace treaty with Japan at the cost of territorial concessions. To annually organize the celebration of the day of military glory of Russia on September 3 in pursuance of the Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR of September 2, 1945 "On the announcement of September 3 as Victory Day in Japan." But none of the recommendations of the Sakhalin Duma have been implemented by the federal government so far.

Japan is now reactivated. And Prime Minister Abe is as optimistic as ever in negotiations with Russia. In the same interview with Bloomberg, Putin, regarding negotiations with Japan, says: “We are not talking about some kind of exchange, about some kind of sale. It's about finding a solution where neither side feels disadvantaged, neither side feels defeated or lost."

I would like to remind President Putin of what he said in 2013: “It (in the Constitution) directly states that the state provides territorial integrity country, therefore any statements about the rejection of any territories from the Russian Federation are unconstitutional.
By the way, the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation now has Article 280.1 (“Public calls for the implementation of actions aimed at violating the territorial integrity of the Russian Federation”). When the article was introduced, it meant first of all the Caucasus, and then the Crimea. However, any statements by politicians about the potential return of the Kuriles to Japan also fall under this article of the Criminal Code. And this is up to five years of a real prison term. Although, of course, our president is inviolable ...

Over the past 25 years, Russia has given China as much land as it could not take during the previous century and a half. Friendship continues

Serviceman Chinese army. Photo: PhotoXPress

in the arms

"Chinese politics is an endless path of cunning."
Sun Tzu, Chinese politician of the 6th century BC

In connection with the intention of the authorities of the Trans-Baikal Territory to lease more than 300 thousand hectares of agricultural land to China for 49 years, I think it is necessary to recall how much of their territory the USSR, and then Russia, gave to China over the past 25 years.

The agreement between the USSR and the PRC on the Soviet-Chinese state border on its Eastern part was signed on May 16, 1991, and ratified by the Supreme Council of the Russian Federation on February 13, 1992. It was decided to draw the border along the fairway of navigable rivers and the middle of non-navigable ones. Prior to this, the border mainly passed along the Chinese coast, in accordance with the earlier Soviet-Chinese agreements. In the autumn of 1991, a demarcation commission was set up, headed by Ambassador-at-Large of the Russian Foreign Ministry Genrikh Kireev. No comments were given to the Soviet people about changing the border on the Far Eastern borders. Everything was quiet, almost covert. The commission worked for seven years. During this time, Russia gave China about 600 islands on the Amur and Ussuri rivers, as well as 10 square kilometers of land. Russia lost another 1,500 hectares of land in Primorye during the demarcation of the border in November 1995, having implemented the 1994 Agreement between Russia and China on the Russian-Chinese state border in its western part.

After Mikhail Gorbachev signed an agreement in 1991, according to which the border with China should pass along the Amur channel, the Chinese had the opportunity to challenge the ownership of Russia by the Bolshoi Ussuriysky and Tarabarov Islands in the Khabarovsk region, as well as Bolshoy Island in the Amur Region.

Well, then Boris Yeltsin announced that these islands had become a disputed territory. Meanwhile, these islands have become controversial thanks to the long-term efforts of the Chinese side to change the course of the Amur.

About these zeal of the Chinese a little lower.

We gave our...

"Mountains and rivers are easy to change, the character of a person is difficult."
Chinese proverb

Boris Tkachenko, a leading researcher at the Institute of History, Archeology and Ethnography of the Peoples of the Far East, is sure that the Constitution of the Russian Federation, which was in force in February 1992, “did not allow changes to the state border, and referred the solution of issues entailing a change in the territory of the Russian Federation exclusively to the competence of the Congress of People's Deputies of the Russian Federation. Consequently, the ratification of the agreement between the Soviet Union and China on changing the state border was carried out with violations. That is, there was no ratification. Because at that time there was a congress. The question had to be brought to the congress. The Supreme Council of the Russian Federation was the body that did not have the authority to do so. With the same success it could be ratified at a meeting of the Moscow City Council, the regional council, the village council ... ".

According to the Declaration of Sovereignty of the Russian Federation of June 12, 1990, any changes in the territory of the Russian Federation could not take place without the will of the people, expressed through a referendum. “What did we get? They received a change in the border not in our favor, they simply presented their own. We got an influx of low-quality Chinese goods, an influx of Chinese who live here at home. As the Russian Federation weakens, the Chinese will pull out all these treaties into the light of day and will prove that the Aigun and Beijing treaties of the 19th century were unequal, since they were concluded during the period of China's weakening. China was forced to give in. And then the question will be raised - get out. And when there are no longer 200 thousand, but two million or 20 million, can you imagine what will happen?!” Tkachenko says.

By the way, in the 1990s, China’s spiritual leader Deng Xiaoping already spoke about contractual “injustice”: “In the second half of the 19th century royal Russia forced the rulers of the Qing Dynasty of China to conclude a number of unequal treaties. Thus, tsarist Russia seized a total of over one and a half million square meters. km of Chinese territory.

Not far from the city of Heihe, the Chinese built a museum of their own, Chinese, shame. It talks about the disadvantageous international treaties that China has ever entered into.

This includes the Beijing (1860) and Aigun (1858) treaties. "Do not forget the national disgrace, revive the spirit of the Chinese nation" - this is the message of the museum of infamy. Foreigners are not allowed into this museum, just like the museum complex on the former Soviet Damansky Island, where in 1969 there were fierce battles with the Chinese.

Damansky, now a Chinese island

Then 58 Soviet border guards and more than 800 Chinese citizens died. In 1991, Damansky was given to China. On Zhenbao, or "Precious Island", as the Chinese call it, the area of ​​​​which is only 0.74 square meters. km, an obelisk with the names of national heroes China, who died on Damansky. Here, Chinese border guards are now taking the oath. And since 2009, there is also an officially approved national base for the education of patriotism on the former Damansky.

In this building on the territory of the former Russian island, Chinese border guards now take the oath

By the way, in the 1990s, the then governor of Primorsky Krai, Yevgeny Nazdratenko, wanted, by analogy with the Chinese Museum of Shame, to erect a pillar of shame in the center of Vladivostok as a sign of disagreement with the return of part of the territory of Primorsky Krai to China. But something went wrong. The pole was never installed. And it would have to. At least in memory of the fact that

border guards from the Khasansky district of Primorsky Krai themselves came to the government with the initiative to move the border towards Russia, citing the fact that it is difficult for them to serve some parts of hard-to-reach terrain. And so they offered to give these lands to China. 300 hectares! Turned out patriotic!

On a friendly basis

"Two tigers in one den - which one will survive, which one will die?"
Chinese proverb

In 1991, the then Soviet Union agreed that one and a half thousand square meters. km of Soviet land will be developed jointly with China. That is, Soviet citizens and the Chinese could mow hay on an equal footing, and fish in the waters of the rivers adjacent to the islands. In fact, these lands were solely used by the Chinese; Soviet and then Russian border guards did not allow their citizens to enter the islands. Five years later, the islands went to China.

In 1999, as Prime Minister of Russia, Vladimir Putin signed a government decree on the joint economic use of individual islands and adjacent water areas of border rivers. By this resolution, Russia allowed joint economic use Verkhnekonstantinovsky Island and the adjacent water area of ​​the Amur River (Heilongjiang) under the sovereignty of the Russian Federation and allowed the border population of the People's Republic of China to engage in traditional economic activities in this area.

In turn, the Chinese side allowed Russian citizens living in the border area to conduct a joint household on Menkeilizhouzhu Island and Island No. 1 of the Longzhandao Islands group and the water area of ​​the Argun River adjacent to them.

The Chinese used Russian land with might and main, and Russian border guards did not let Russian citizens into the Chinese islands.

Separately, it is worth mentioning two of our islands, which the Chinese captured without permission back in 1985. After that, the Soviet, and then the Russian border guards did not even go there. These nameless islands with a total area of ​​2.4 sq. km have serial numbers 1007 and 1008 and are located in the Khabarovsk Territory behind the fairway of the Kazakevich channel, that is, their belonging to Russia has always been indisputable. Nevertheless, on the maps of Russian military intelligence officers it is said that "here the Chinese fish, graze cattle, 10-15 people in winter, and 30-40 people in summer."

Near these islands, the Chinese for several years covered the Kazakevich channel with soil, flooding a barge with stones in it. As a result, the Kazakevich channel became unnavigable.

In the same way, the Chinese, in violation of international treaties, unilaterally fortified their banks of the Amur and built about 600 kilometers of dams, which gradually led to a change in the river's fairway.

We keep giving

“If there is a gap, there will be fly larvae.”
Chinese proverb

On October 15, 2004, in Beijing, Putin signed the "Additional Agreement on the Russian-Chinese State Border in its Eastern Part", which referred to the voluntary transfer to China of Tarabarov Island, part of the Big Ussuri Island in the Khabarovsk Territory and Bolshoi Island in the Chita Region. All these islands were of strategic importance for the state. A large fortified area and a frontier post were located on Bolshoi Ussuriysky, and the trajectory of take-offs of military aircraft of the 11th Air Force and Air Defense Army (now the 3rd Air Force and Air Defense Command), which is deployed in Khabarovsk, passed over Tarabarov. In addition, on these islands there were dachas of Khabarovsk residents, hayfields ... On Bolshoy Island, with an area of ​​70 square meters. km, there was a frontier post and drinking water was taken for part of the region.

Foreign Minister Lavrov then said: the interests of the inhabitants of the Khabarovsk Territory after the signing of an additional agreement to the bilateral border treaty did not suffer.

“We have something to prove the unconditional benefit of this agreement, in it the interests of Russian citizens, primarily those living in Khabarovsk, are protected,” Lavrov said. Minister Lavrov, before saying such things, should have gone to the Khabarovsk Territory and studied the mood of the people on the spot.

Khabarovsk residents were actively indignant, protesting, but the federal press was silent about this.

In those days, only two governors - Nazdratenko of Primorsky Krai and Ishaev of Khabarovsk - resisted the transfer of Russian territories to China. Nazdratenko wrote letters to Chernomyrdin with a request to revise the 1991 border agreement with China, and Viktor Ishaev even ordered the construction of a pontoon bridge connecting Khabarovsk with Bolshoy Ussuriysky Island, where they installed the chapel of the martyr-warrior Victor - in memory of those who died defending Far Eastern borders of Russia.

Obelisk of Remembrance and Chapel of the Warrior Martyr

Ishaev also began earthworks to connect the islands of Tarabarov and Bolshoy Ussuriysky, and he did not particularly let the Chinese into the Khabarovsk Territory. “The territory is ours, Russian. So it was, is and will be,” said Ishaev. But all in vain. In 2005, Russia gave China Tarabarov Island, half of Bolshoi Ussuriysky Island (half, apparently, only because the chapel built by Ishaev turned out to be on the island) and Bolshoy Island in the Chita region. A total of 337 sq. km.

O. Bolshoy Ussuriysky. On one half there is a Chinese frontier post, on the other - a Russian chapel.

Delayed dispute method

“It is better not to know hieroglyphs than not to know people.”
Chinese proverb

The method of "deferred dispute", developed in the PRC back in the 70s, has brought its results. This method boils down to taking border-territorial disputes beyond the scope of bilateral international relations and waiting until the “conditions are ripe” for resolving the issue on terms acceptable to China, or even better, simply on Chinese terms. The Chinese did not wait long this time until a favorable situation for them matured. In 25 years, China received from Russia as much land as it could not get for a century and a half. “Any concessions and hesitations on our part, as experience has shown, are understood by the Chinese as a sign of weakness and encourage them to further extortion,” wrote Vladimir Sukhomlinov, Minister of War of Tsarist Russia, at the beginning of the last century.

Maps, atlases and school textbooks in China continue to be published with descriptions of the territories “temporarily abandoned by China”, where Khabarovsk, Vladivostok, Nakhodka, the Amur Region, Buryatia and Sakhalin are designated by Chinese names. For example, on maps in a high school history textbook, part of Russia is marked as former Chinese land with the following explanation:

“Thanks to the Aigun Treaty of 1858, tsarist Russia cut off more than 600,000 sq. km of Chinese territory. Thanks to the Beijing Treaty of 1860, tsarist Russia cut off about 400,000 square meters. km of Chinese territory...

Thanks to the Ili Treaty of 1881 and the subsequent five border agreements, tsarist Russia cut off more than 70,000 square meters. km of Chinese territory.

And in the directory of the province of Heilongjiang, which borders on our Far East and Primorye, it is reported: “The Chinese city of Heilunnao is located on the northern bank of the river. Heilongjiang, Aihui County. In 1858, after tsarist Russia forced China to sign the Treaty of Aigun, she captured it and renamed it the city of Blagoveshchensk.

The National Security Concept of the Russian Federation, which was in force from 2000 to 2009, among other things, stated: “Threats to national security and interests of the Russian Federation in the border area are due to the economic, demographic, cultural and religious expansion of neighboring states into Russian territory.” Not a word is said about expansion in the current concept, which is valid until 2020.

I must say that not only Russia, when demarcating the border, gave its lands to China, but also Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, and Kazakhstan. Thousands of kilometers of the former Soviet Union eventually crossed over to the PRC.

However, China still has territorial claims to India, Vietnam, Philippines and Malaysia. Recently, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of China reported that in the South China Sea on the reefs of the Nansha (Spratly) archipelago, work on the creation of artificial islands is almost completed. China has added 8 sq. km of land to be used for the construction of military and civil facilities. And this despite the fact that the Spratly archipelago is controversial. In addition to China, Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei, Taiwan and the Philippines claim it. Chinese expert foreign policy From the Lee Kuan Yew Institute for Public Policy in Singapore, Huang Jing said in an interview with The Wall Street Journal: “China can now tell its people that they have achieved what they wanted. China thus shows that it has the initiative and can do whatever it considers to be in its interests.”

Strategic partnership

“You can only buy by mistake, but you cannot sell by mistake.”
Chinese proverb

Ravil Geniatulin, former leader Chita region, and then the entire Trans-Baikal Territory, spoke about his region as follows: “The economic potential of forests makes it possible to harvest wood for all types of use up to 50 million cubic meters, and the proximity of sales markets in China, Japan and other countries of the Pacific region makes it attractive and profitable for international cooperation. For the past two decades, there has been active deforestation both in the Trans-Baikal Territory, and in Primorye, and in the Irkutsk Region. For example, in Primorye, up to 1.5 million cubic meters of timber is illegally cut down annually, and in the Amur Region, more than half of the regional forest fund is given for felling.

In 1998, the Chinese government completely banned commercial logging on its territory for 20 years. This forest protection program is called the "Great Green Wall" by the Chinese. For many years, the Chinese have been buying roundwood, that is, unprocessed wood, from Malaysia, Gabon, Cameroon, North Korea and in Russia. Russia leads the list.

Moreover, it is believed that 80 percent of the Russian timber leaving for China is stolen. Chita, Irkutsk - here are the largest illegal timber markets. When acquiring a permit supposedly for sanitary felling, loggers cut first-class sawlogs, taking only the lower, most valuable part of the trunk, and leaving the rest at the felling site.

In a number of regions of the Far East and Transbaikalia, Chinese entrepreneurs are already absolute monopolists in the field of logging.

Joint Russian-Chinese enterprises for wood processing most often turn out to be just a fiction. The Chinese government even passed a law banning the purchase of processed timber from Russia. Only raw timber is purchased. In a continuous stream, loaded trains with raw timber move towards the Chinese border.

It should be noted that Chinese enterprises operating on Russian territory very often do not follow the norms of the legislation of the Russian Federation, but are actually Chinese colonies, where the laws of the People's Republic of China apply.

It is of fundamental importance that the Chinese try to raise their national flag and place information signs in Chinese in all production areas.

According to the officially unpublished resolution of the State Council of the People's Republic of China "On Measures to Further Stabilize the Problem of Employment and the Distribution of Labor Resources", the main efforts should be directed to expanding the export of labor from Northeast China to the sparsely populated agricultural regions of Russia adjacent to the state border. Chinese organizations are instructed to find ways to transfer Chinese workers' contracts from seasonal to year-round employment. Wherein importance is given to the lease of land and the creation of compact places for the residence of Chinese citizens. So the authorities of the Trans-Baikal Territory, wishing to lease out hundreds of hectares of Russian land for 49 years, simply comply with the decision of the State Council of the PRC.

Very indicative in the context of Russian-Chinese partnership economic relations was the speech of the Acting Governor of the Jewish Autonomous Region Alexander Levintal at the St. Petersburg Economic Forum: “I was recently appointed governor, and investors rushed to me. They say: "Let's develop Agriculture". And it turns out that it is practically non-existent! Because the whole land is cut into shreds, and 80% of the territories are controlled by the Chinese - in various ways, legal and illegal. At the same time, 80% of the land is sown with soybeans, which kill the land.”

The land is being killed not only by soybeans, but also by Chinese pesticides, which are actively used by Chinese agricultural workers on leased land.

“China is our biggest neighbor, it is such a big, roughly speaking, fat pig that has sprawled in our underbelly of Siberia and the Far East. And it must be carefully studied - what global strategic goals they set for themselves. I have no faith in a strategic partnership between Russia and China. I think this is a contrived thing. With us, all this boils down to declarations, it seems that we have proclaimed a partnership. Partnership must be expressed in concrete deeds. How did China help us? Yes, nothing. So far, they are interested in us as a supplier of the latest developments in the field of military technologies and equipment, as a source of raw materials. But the time will pass when everyone will be sucked out of here, and in this respect we will be uninteresting for them,” says historian Boris Tkachenko.

The head of the Trans-Baikal Territory Konstantin Ilkovsky, signing a protocol of intent to lease land within the framework of the St. Petersburg Economic Forum with the Chinese company Huae Xingban, explained his decision by the low demand for agricultural land. Apparently, therefore, the Chinese will get the land just for a penny. The rent will be only 250 rubles a year per hectare, that is, less than five dollars. That's really beneficial! But obviously not for Russia. According to official information, the investor, the Chinese company Huae Xingbang, plans to grow fodder, grain, oilseeds, and also medicinal herbs for pharmacology, develop industrial cattle breeding, poultry farming, beef cattle breeding.

In fact, the Sinban company is a well-known enterprise in the region. It has long been "feeding" Transbaikalia with its projectors. For example, since 2004, they promised to build a large modern pulp and paper mill here. But so far it has not been built. But on the other hand, over the years, the most valuable forests between the Shilka and Argun rivers have been exported to China through the winter crossing of Pokrovka-Logukhe, and a dam has been illegally backfilled for the construction of a 10-meter dam in the channel of the Amazar River, a major tributary of the Upper Amur.

Green shaded areas with a total area of ​​928,122 hectares, which the Chinese leased for 49 years for the construction of the Amazar Pulp and Paper Mill in the Mogochinsky District of the Trans-Baikal Territory

The pulp and paper mill is to be erected on land leased for 49 years by several Chinese companies: Zabaikalskaya Botai LPK LLC (founded by Heilongjiang Ecology and Trade LLC Zhongte Botai), Express LLC (founded by Heilongjiang Investment Management Company LLC) Fu Jin"), LLC "Rusles" (founder - LLC Industrial Enterprise "Rongchengxinyuan" of the city of Argun). total area land leased by the Chinese - 1,844,407 hectares, that is, almost the entire strip of forests adjacent to the state border with China is given over to cutting. “The felling is carried out by Chinese citizens, who destroy the resources of hunting and commercial species of animals and fish resources along the way, not only in the cut areas, but also in vast adjacent territories,” the report says. policy brief on the problem of forest management and the creation of specially protected natural areas in the border regions of the Trans-Baikal Territory, prepared by the staff of the Trans-Baikal State University and the Daursky State Natural Biosphere Reserve.

And here is what Oleg Polyakov, Minister of Natural Resources of the Territory, said about the Chinese lease last fall: “This long-term lease agreement was signed 14 years ago as part of the Amazar Pulp and Paper Mill construction project. We cannot terminate it now, as the construction of the pulp and paper mill continues. There are no such deals going on right now." Well, yes, it doesn't! Not even a year had passed after the statement of Minister Polyakov, as the head of Transbaikalia, Ilkovsky, again offered land to the Chinese on the cheap.

By the way, the authorities of the Trans-Baikal Territory want to lease land not only to the Chinese. The other day, at a meeting of the groups on cooperation between the Federation Council and the State Great Khural of Mongolia, First Deputy Prime Minister of the regional government Alexei Shemetov said that the authorities of the Trans-Baikal Territory are ready for the arrival of any investor in the territory of Transbaikalia, including agreeing to lease land to Mongolian investors.

But the Mongols are still silent. Even at a price of five dollars per hectare. Maybe they are waiting for the Russians to agree to give three dollars each?

On December 31 last year, President Putin signed a decree on the creation of advanced development territories (TOR) (FZ No. 473). And the other day, Prime Minister Medvedev proudly announced that the first three territories had been determined - in the Khabarovsk Territory and Primorye. The presidential decree, surprising in its "patriotism", was signed on the eve of the New Year. In fact, in the ASEZs, the operation of Russian legislation is limited, including the abolition of local self-government. According to the signed law, these territories for 70 years (with the right to prolong) can be leased to foreigners, foreign workers do not need a work permit, there are no restrictive quotas for the import of foreign labor, a free customs zone is introduced, withdrawal is allowed land plots and real estate objects located on them from citizens of Russia at the request of management company. In addition, foreigners are allowed to extract and export minerals, hydrocarbons, cut down forests, fish, shoot animals in any quantity and without compensation for losses. Residents of PDAs will pay reduced rates of insurance premiums (Pension Fund - 6%; Social Insurance Fund - 1.5%; Compulsory Medical Insurance Fund - 0.1%), and shortfalls in income of residents will be compensated by intergovernmental transfers provided from federal budget. And all this is explained by the leading economic development territories.

In practice, this means that the Chinese no longer have any restrictions on penetrating the territory of Russia and exporting our natural resources to the Celestial Empire. By this decree, Putin actually gave China our Far East. Probably, this gift was made in exchange for the "extraordinarily profitable" contract for the supply of Russian gas to China.

“Russian and Chinese are brothers forever”… We remember this song of 1949 from the time of friendship between Stalin and Mao, and we know what happened afterwards…

I'm in a difficult position. Today, while collecting material for a completely non-political post, I came across information that changed my attitude to life. Two years ago, I was very concerned about overcoming the crisis and keeping the salaries of my employees, and this information passed me by.

It's not exactly shocking, it's just devastating information. On October 14, 2008, our government, under the leadership of V.V. Putin "transferred" part of our territory to China! More on that later, but now about me. Recently, I made a vow not to criticize our leadership, but after reading this information, I have no choice but to take back my words. This does not characterize me from the good side, but there is no other way out.
Our grandfathers, great-grandfathers and ancestors shed their blood and gave their lives for the growth of our territory. The kings perfectly understood that they needed not only to rule a strong state, but also to leave it to their children, grandchildren, and so on. And these bitches squander the land, watered with the blood of our ancestors.

On October 14, 2008, the ceremony of transferring OUR TERRITORY to China was held. Tarabarov Island and half of Bolshoi Ussuriysky Island near Khabarovsk, as well as Bolshoi Island on the Argun River in the Chita Region, in addition to the agreement on the Russian-Chinese state border, go to China. The document was signed in Beijing between Russian President Vladimir Putin and the leadership of China on October 14, 2004. The transfer of the islands near Khabarovsk to China took place exactly four years after the signing of an agreement between the leadership of the two countries. About 174 square kilometers of land were taken away by the PRC in the Khabarovsk region. With the transfer of the islands on the Amur, China has become closer to Khabarovsk by 50 kilometers. The ceremony on Bolshoy Ussuriysky Island began with the performance of the Anthems and the raising of the state flags of Russia and China. After a short rally on Bolshoy Ussuriysky Island, in the place where the new line of the Russian-Chinese state border passes, border posts of the two countries were installed.

In Soviet times, when relations between the PRC and the USSR were strained, the islands - Tarabarova and Bolshoy Ussuriysky were of strategic importance, they covered Khabarovsk in the event of a military attack. There was a powerful fortified area on Bolshoi Ussuriysky. Now the Russian island of Tarabarov, which has completely departed from the PRC, will turn into the Chinese Yinlundao - the island of the Silver Dragon, the western part of the Great Ussuriysk will be called Heixazidao - the island of the Black Bear. On the Russian part of the Big Ussuri Island there is an Orthodox chapel of St. Victor, the Zarya agricultural enterprise, hayfields, and dachas of Khabarovsk residents.
By the way, I wonder if at least one person received some kind of compensation?

The most interesting thing is that he knew exactly the opinion of the Russian people about his act. Here is the evidence.

On October 1, 2008, the National Bolsheviks held a series of protests against the transfer to China of the Russian islands Bolshoy (Chita region), Bolshoi Ussuriysky and Tarabarov (Khabarovsk region, on the Amur River). At the closing of the Far Eastern International Economic Forum in Khabarovsk, Igor Shchuka and Tatyana Kharlamova chained themselves to the doors of the Khabarovsk regional musical theater, where the plenary sessions of the forum were held and scattered leaflets. The case against them was initiated under article 282 part 1 "Inciting hatred or enmity" (up to 2 years in prison). In February 2009, two more articles were added to political prisoners Shchuka and Kharlamova: 282.2 part 2 - "Participation in the activities of an extremist community" and 319 "Insulting a government representative." At the moment they are in the pre-trial detention center in Khabarovsk.

Residents of the Amur region continued to protest against the transfer of the islands to China and Japan. On November 23, 2008, the party "For Holy Russia" held a rally near the presidential office in Blagoveshchensk. On December 1, members of the All-Russian communist party The picketers believe that the authorities will not draw conclusions from such rallies, but at least they will pay attention. The protest was expressed by both aged people and young people.

I think there were quite a few speeches, but our authorities did not find anything else but to declare these honest people criminals. Here is the opinion of one of them.

Russian politicians and economists called the transfer of the islands historical. The former governor of the Amur region Vladimir Polevanov also spoke on this occasion. “This will affect strategic relations with China in the direction of their improvement, since we have closed the problem that has dragged on for the past 30 years and even led to local military conflicts twice,” he told RBC daily. - These islands have no superprincipal significance - this is not the South Kuril ridge. If we, God forbid, gave those islands to Japan, we would, in fact, lose the Sea of ​​Okhotsk and the super-rich fish stocks of the shelf.” On the other hand, the border issue with the country that Polevanov now considers "the most powerful state in the world" has finally been settled: the United States, in his opinion, is weaker than ever.
With what fright would we lose the Sea of ​​Okhotsk? Do we no longer have an army to protect our territorial integrity? It is not surprising that with such a Minister of Defense, the army will soon be gone. In place of the commander of the Ryazan school, I would have driven into his face for insulting God and the honor of a Russian officer. And the court of officer's honor would most likely justify me.
What do the official documents say about this? The Internet has kindly posted exhaustive information.

ADDITIONAL AGREEMENT BETWEEN RUSSIA AND CHINA. BEIJING. NOVEMBER 2/14, 1860
ARTICLE 1
In confirmation and clarification of the first article of the agreement concluded in the city of Aigun, 1858, May 16th day (Xiang-feng of the VIII year, IV moon, 21st day), and in pursuance of the ninth article of the agreement concluded in the same year, June 1st day (5th of the moon, 3rd day), in the city of Tien-Jin, it is determined: from now on, the eastern border between the two states, starting from the confluence of the Shilka and Argun rivers, will go downstream the Amur River to the confluence of this the last river with the Usuri River. The lands lying on the left bank (to the north) of the Amur River belong to Russian state, and the lands lying on the right bank (to the south), up to the mouth of the Usuri River, belong to the Chinese state. Further, from the mouth of the Usuri River to Lake Khinkai, the boundary line runs along the Usuri and Sun'gacha rivers. The lands lying on the eastern (right) bank of these rivers belong to the Russian state, and on the western (left) - to the Chinese state. Then the border line between the two states, from the source of the Sun'gacha River, crosses Lake Hinkai and goes to the Belen-he (Tour) River, from the mouth of this latter, along the mountain range, to the mouth of the Khubitu (Khubtu) River, and from here along the mountains , lying between the Hunchun River and the sea, to the Tu-myn-jiang River. Here, too, the lands to the east belong to the Russian state, and to the west, to the Chinese. The boundary line rests on the river Tu-myn-jiang for twenty Chinese versts (li), above its confluence with the sea.

That is, as we can see, this agreement, which is the basic one for determining our border with China, does not in any way determine the territorial affiliation of the islands on the Amur and Ussuri, incl. and the Bol Islands. Ussuriysky and Tarabarov. It so happened that up to the present time this issue has not remained resolved to the end. Russia, and then the USSR, always drew the border along the Chinese coast of the Amur and Ussuri, but China never recognized this alignment, and on maps published both in the PRC and in Taiwan, these islands were depicted as Chinese. It must be said that Russia, and then the USSR, missed two great moments to secure the islands on the Amur and Ussuri for themselves. The first was at the turn of the century, when all the ropes were pulled from the Qing Empire, and the second - in the first years of the existence of the PRC, when these islands could be exchanged for military and technical assistance, and even for Port Arthur, which was bargained from Chiang Kai-shek, which and so returned to the PRC in 1954. Years passed, China was gaining power, and the USSR, on the contrary, was losing it, so it became impossible to ignore the border issue, as it was before. And in the end Gorbachev signs the next document.

AGREEMENT BETWEEN THE UNION OF SOVIET SOCIALIST REPUBLICS AND THE PEOPLE'S REPUBLIC OF CHINA ON THE SOVIET-CHINESE BORDER ON ITS EASTERN PART.
Article 2
From the ninth border point, the line of the state border goes downstream of the Amur River (on the Chinese map - the Heilongjiang River) in the middle of its main fairway to the tenth
border point. This border point is located in the middle of the main fairway of the Amur River (on the Chinese map - the Heilongjiang River) at a distance of approximately 6.3 km southeast of the height marked 41.1 (on the Chinese map - 41.2) and approximately 2 .5 km south-southwest of height marked 39.9 (on the Chinese map - 40.4), located on the territory of the USSR, and approximately 9.0 km east-north-east of Mount Iligashan marked 266 ,5 (on the Chinese map - the height with a mark of 266.5), located on the territory of the PRC. The eleventh boundary point is located in the middle of the main channel of the Ussuri River (on the Chinese map - the Usulijiang River) at a distance of approximately 5.6 km west-north-west of Mount Trekhglavaya with a mark of 353.5 (on the Chinese map - height with a mark of 366, 1) and approximately 7.5 km northwest of Mount Bolshoy Khekhtsir with a mark of 949.4 (on the Chinese map - the height with a mark of 950.0), located on the territory of the USSR, and approximately 18.3 km to the north- east of the height with a mark of 58.6, located in the territory of the PRC.
As you can see, the section from 10 to 11 of the boundary point remains undescribed. This is just the site opposite Tarabarov and Bol. Ussuri. In the next, third article, the parties agreed to continue negotiations on this section.

Article 5
The Contracting Parties have agreed that the line of the state border between the USSR and the PRC, described in Article 2 of this Agreement, runs along the middle of the main fairway of the river on navigable rivers, and along the middle of the river or the middle of its main branch on non-navigable rivers.
Those. The USSR agreed to use the main fairway as general principle in determining the boundaries of navigable rivers. The main fairways of the Amur and Ussuri, I note, respectively, pass north and east of the islands and connect exactly opposite the center of Khabarovsk.

Article 8
The Contracting Parties have agreed that vessels of various types, including military vessels, can freely navigate from the Ussuri (Usulijang) River to the Amur (Heilongjiang) River past the city of Khabarovsk and back. The navigation rules will be developed by the competent departments of the Parties.
Those. This article gave the PRC the right to unhindered passage of foreign warships through its (de facto) territory, and also separately signed the fact that the main fairway passes north and east of the Tarabarov and Bol islands. Ussuri. Thus, the claims of the Chinese to both islands completely became (with the consent of the USSR!) Even more significant. This agreement was ratified by the Supreme Council on February 13, 1992, after the collapse of the USSR.
Further, during Yeltsin's visit to Beijing in December of the same year, 1992, the following document was signed.

JOINT DECLARATION ON THE FOUNDATIONS OF RELATIONS BETWEEN THE RUSSIAN FEDERATION AND THE PEOPLE'S REPUBLIC OF CHINA. BEIJING. 12/18/1992.
Article 12
The parties will continue negotiations on the yet to be agreed sections of the border between Russian Federation and the People's Republic of China on the basis of agreements on the current Russian-Chinese border in accordance with generally accepted norms international law, in the spirit of equal consultations, mutual understanding and mutual compliance in order to fairly and rationally resolve cross-border issues.
Here Russia once again recognizes that a) the two islands are disputed and b) in the case of a border division, it is ready to be guided by generally accepted norms of international law. And the generally accepted norms of international law just establish in such cases the main fairway as the dividing line.
It can be seen from the documents cited that the traitor to Russia, Gorbachev, laid a mine under Russia's extremely legally weak position regarding the disputed territories. This once again indirectly proves my opinion that there is someone above our government, whose will they implicitly carry out. They never made me feel warm before, and even more so now. "Mr. President" swore to the Russians to respect the territorial integrity of the state. He didn't care about his own promises.

During a visit to China, President Vladimir Putin signed a document according to which part of Bolshoi Ussuriysky Island, as well as the entire Tarabarov Island, will be transferred to China. In total, China will receive 337 square kilometers of territory. From now on, the issue of the border has been finally resolved, and this border, more than 4,000 kilometers long, will become calm. Did China really need these islands and what would Russia gain from this?

The recent meeting between the President of Russia and the President of the People's Republic of China was called a summit of "breakthrough solutions" at the Russian Foreign Ministry. However, initially there was no talk of transferring the islands to China. It was reported that as a result of the meeting, an additional agreement was signed between the Russian Federation and China on the Russian-Chinese border in its eastern part, a protocol on the navigation of Russian and Chinese ships in the water area adjacent to the islands of Tarabarov and Bolshoi Ussuriysky, as well as a protocol to an agreement on the joint use of islands.

The islands of Bolshoi Ussuriysky and Tarabarov are located near Khabarovsk and are located in the Amur floodplain opposite the mouth of the Ussuri River. Together with the small islands surrounding them, they form a fairly compact floodplain array, consisting of more than 50 islands, bounded from the north by the main channel of the Amur, and from the south by the Amur channel, in the western part (before the confluence with the Ussuri) bearing the name Kazakevicheva. Valuable fur-bearing species of animals, ungulates, upland and waterfowl live on the territory of the islands. There are species listed in the Red Books of the International Union for Conservation of Nature, the USSR and Russia: the Far Eastern and black storks, black and Japanese cranes, mandarin duck, swan, Far Eastern leatherback turtle and others. There are a lot of fish in the Amur, its channels and floodplain lakes. Among them, protected species are black carp and Chinese perch-auha. In the vicinity of the islands constantly lives more species fish than in the entire Volga basin. Autumn migration of chum salmon and lamprey takes place near the islands.

Moscow and Beijing agreed to meet each other halfway, moving away from the fruitless line of "everything is my way, or nothing," which can only conserve potential irritants, which always turn out to be "suspended" border problems. For the first time in the century and a half chronicle of the Russian-Chinese demarcation along the rivers, the border crosses the islands, passing through them. As a result, these areas are distributed between Russia and China approximately equally.

These islands became disputable thanks to the long-term efforts of the Chinese side to change the channel of the Amur, which defines the line of the state border. For a long time, Russia and China published geographic Maps where they appropriated the entire disputed territory. Only the 1991 Agreement for the first time announced the distribution of the islands, and the discussion of the fate of the two sections was left "for later."

Near Khabarovsk, along the Kazakevicheva channel, the only undemarcated section on the Amur passed. Now, after the transfer of the islands, the border will actually pass through the city itself, along its coastal line.

According to the new treaty, the border between China and Russia on Bolshoi Ussuriysky will pass near the Orthodox chapel of the martyr-warrior Victor and will divide the island in half. As a result of the division, the residents of Khabarovsk, who own land plots on the island, will suffer property damage.

As for the governor of the Khabarovsk Territory, Ishaev, he had his own views on Bolshoy Ussuriysky Island. It was there that Khabarovsk was supposed to "step over". The city lacked only a capital bridge for development. According to Far Eastern economists, the transfer of the Bolshoy Ussuriysky and Tarabarov Islands to the PRC overnight caused damage of $3 billion, taking into account the loss of funds already invested, the transfer of the Khabarovsk airport, and the development of the border in new areas.

However, according to Moscow economists, after the transfer of the islands, Russia has opened up opportunities to conclude billion-dollar deals with China, so that possible profits will more than cover all losses.

Amur waves in border relations

The floodplain islands of the Amur River have been used by the indigenous peoples of the Amur region since ancient times. No traces of the presence of the Manchus or the Chinese on the islands, despite careful research conducted by scientists from the Far Eastern Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences in 1996-1997, were found.

In the 17th century, starting from the campaigns of Vasily Poyarkov and Erofey Khabarov, the islands of the Amur floodplain attracted the attention of Russia with their fertile lands, vast pastures, diversity and richness of flora and fauna. However, the unfavorable water regime of the river and the frequent flooding of the floodplain significantly hampered the development of these lands.

The first Russian-Chinese agreement on the border can be considered the Nerchinsk Treaty of 1689, when the Russians, under pressure from the Chinese army, were forced to recognize Chinese sovereignty on the right bank of the Amur (before that, it was also mastered by the Russians) and in Primorye.

But in the middle of the 19th century, Russia bloodlessly annexed 165.9 thousand square kilometers of Primorye, which until then had been under joint control. As a result, China, which was weak at the time, lost access to the Sea of ​​Japan.

This acquisition was secured by the Treaty of Tientsin on June 1, 1858 and confirmed on November 2, 1860 by the Treaty of Peking. "After the decision of boundary markers," it said, "the boundary line must not be changed forever." However, it was soon noticed that the lines did not pass as it was established. They agreed to make changes, which was done in 1886.

After that, the Japanese took, together with Korea, Manchuria, and Port Arthur, and Far, and the Kuril Islands, and half of Sakhalin. It only remained to wait until history would allow the Chinese to pose the border issue point-blank.

When discussing this issue in 1926, the parties again noted that the border line between the USSR and China was repeatedly moved arbitrarily by both the local population and local authorities on both sides. It was decided to restore the original line in the form in which it was determined by various agreements and protocols regarding the Russian-Chinese border.

During the occupation of China by Japan, the Soviet Union, in the interests of defense, placed under its control a large number of islands on the Chinese side of the fairway on the Amur and Ussuri.

In 1964, the parties developed a draft of a new agreement. Then an unclosed "window" appeared in the form of Tarabarov and Bolshoy Ussuriysky Islands. But the document was not signed. Later, the Chinese felt that they had enough reason to capture Damansky Island, which they always considered theirs.

On May 16, 1991, an agreement was signed on the Soviet-Chinese border in its eastern part, which specified the border on the basis of existing agreements. In the development of this document, all subsequent Russian-Chinese agreements on the border were adopted.

After Mikhail Gorbachev signed an agreement that the border with China should pass along the fairway of the Amur, the Chinese had the opportunity to challenge Russia's ownership of the Bolshoi Ussuriysky and Tarabarov islands in the Khabarovsk region.

The precedent for the revision of post-Soviet borders arose almost immediately after the collapse of the Union in the form of Russian-Chinese agreements of July-September 1992, according to which Russia transferred to China about 600 islands on the Amur and Ussuri rivers, as well as 10 square kilometers of land territory. Another one and a half thousand hectares of land in Primorye was lost by Russia during the demarcation of the border in November 1995.

The final documents of Boris Yeltsin's visit to Beijing in December 1992 stated the following. The 12th article of the adopted joint declaration read: "The parties will continue negotiations on the not yet agreed sections of the border between the Russian Federation and the PRC on the basis of agreements on the current Russian-Chinese border in accordance with generally accepted norms of international law, in the spirit of equal consultations, mutual understanding and mutual compliance in order to to resolve border issues fairly and rationally."

But less than two months later, the Chinese position suddenly changed - the special representative of the Chinese Foreign Ministry, Wu Jianmin, at a briefing in February 1993, referring to the closed speech of Deng Xiaoping on an alliance with Russia, made it clear that there were no more territorial problems between the two countries.

In recent years, the Chinese have erected about three hundred kilometers of dams on their coast in order to artificially direct the Amur in the direction they need, to shallow the Kazakevicheva channel, along the fairway of which the border is defined in this area.

Governor of the Khabarovsk Territory Viktor Ishaev

All this time, the so-called "irrigation war" continued, which began back in Soviet times. Hydrotechnical work was carried out on the Amur every year - the bottom was deepened, the coast was strengthened, dams were built. In post-Soviet Russia, irrigation battles were somewhat forgotten, while the Chinese continued their "subversive activities." In recent years, the Chinese have built about three hundred kilometers of dams in certain sections of the Amur coast in order to artificially direct the Amur in the direction they need, in particular, bypassing the shallowing Kazakevicheva channel. To speed up the shallowing, the Chinese from year to year flooded barges with sand in the channel.

Only in 2000, the local authorities, having realized, drew attention to the fact that the Amur is gradually changing its course and "leaving" Khabarovsk. The Khabarovsk authorities decided to strike back - and on the Amur, opposite Khabarovsk, hydraulic engineering work began.

By the way, local authorities have always advocated that the disputed islands be assigned to Russia. And hydrotechnical work (not contrary to international agreements) was carried out precisely within the framework of this policy.

After a series of actions by both sides, the border was nevertheless fixed along the Amur and Ussuri. But it was not properly demarcated. The main thing was that rivers quite often change the shape of their banks, islands and fairways, because of which a lot of purely geometric errors have accumulated.

There are huge resources in the Russian Far East, which are difficult for Russia to develop due to the weak population of the territory. For the dynamic development of the Far East, the region can accept up to 500 thousand foreign workers. They could well help build roads, lay communications, develop abandoned agricultural lands.

Academician Petr Baklanov

The problem was which of the branches should be considered the main channel of the Amur. Before Putin decided to transfer the islands to China, the border ran in the middle of the Kazakevicheva channel, China, however, believed that its place was in a different direction.

But the channel, along which the border now actually runs, is quickly washed away, and not without the help of the Chinese, and soon, instead of the disputed Bolshoy Ussuriysky Island, a much less disputed peninsula will appear, merged with Chinese territory. Wherein Russian coast Every year it is washed away by a couple of meters, that is, it moves away.

And the islands are of strategic importance for Khabarovsk, which stretches along the Amur for 40 kilometers. There is a fortified area on Bolshoi Ussuriysky, which, in the event of an attack by the Chinese, should hold the enemy near Khabarovsk for 45 minutes. And above the island of Tarabarov lies the take-off trajectory of combat aircraft of the 11th Army of the Air Force and Air Defense, which is deployed in Khabarovsk.

Civil aircraft flying out of the Khabarovsk airport are also gaining altitude over this island. Now that the island has gone to China, all flights will require the consent of the Chinese side, and besides, you will have to pay for the use of the airspace of a neighboring state.

How did Putin

The first thought that comes to mind is that Russia is losing ground and giving way to China. The idea of ​​imminent territorial conquest by the descendants of the builders of the Great Chinese wall not new. According to a number of American demographers, by 2015 the territory of China will not be able to feed its population. At the same time, there is colossal demographic pressure on the borders of Russia with China: on the one hand, a huge population density - 120 people per 1 square kilometer, on the other - undeveloped spaces. The population density in our eastern regions is approximately 1 person per 1 square kilometer. About 2.6 million people live near the border with China on the Russian side of Primorye, and over 85 million on the Chinese side, so the Chinese predisposition to "land expansion" is quite logical and long-term.

No president can base his policy on confrontation with China until he has made every effort to maintain cooperation with it.

Henry Kissinger

If you think in an imperial way, then there is only one conclusion: territorial seizures of Russian territories by China are coming. However, no one has yet canceled the borders, and a direct military invasion is hardly included in strategic plans our neighbour. In principle, the filling of all free spaces by China is inevitable, but first of all it will be the expansion of the economy and geopolitical influence.

At the moment, it is too early to talk about the mass settlement of the Russian Far East by the Chinese. So far, we are talking about the transfer of finance and raw materials from this region to the PRC, about securing local sales markets for Chinese goods, and the most profitable and cost-effective industries for enterprises with Chinese capital.

During the entire 1990s, approximately 700 Chinese settled in the entire Far East. Meanwhile, according to our research, 7 percent of Primorye residents are sure that 20 to 30 percent of Chinese live in the region. 21 percent of residents of Primorye believe that there are more than 10 percent of citizens of the PRC in the region, and 28 percent think that there are from 5 to 10 percent of immigrants from the Middle Kingdom. People do not know the true state of affairs.

Director of the Institute of History and Ethnography of the Far Eastern Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences Viktor Larin

However, this is happening all over Russia, which is why in the very near future there will be an acute shortage of labor resources in the country. In 2015, the retiring generation will be replaced by a generation that is almost a quarter smaller. This milestone has been passed by some the developed countries and all of them were not without mass immigration. Russia will also have to embark on this path, especially if production revives. And in the Far East, immigration will be Chinese.

China concentrates economic and military power, which will inevitably in the current century be aimed at the development of resource provinces, existing and future energy flows and, accordingly, the countries that own them. On this path, he must inevitably face another powerful power that strives for the same goals, but controls these areas today.

The current exchange with the Chinese of several hundred hectares in Primorye is generally beneficial to Russia. It is unlikely that we will be able to be close friends with America, since she herself does not strive for any kind of friendship with anyone, but tends only to a more or less obvious form of domination. We will never be friends with China either - because of normal Chinese nationalism, encouraged by the growing power of the country.

But the solution of the border issue removes, at least, possible cause conflict between our countries. For, paradoxically, in the event of an armed conflict, China has nothing to do in the resource-rich and people-poor expanses of Siberia. The Chinese, of course, want to develop Siberia - but as shareholders, co-owners and investors. Isn't that what Russia wants from the West?

The agreements reached on the border should be assessed not by opportunistic measures, but by political criteria. And political factors were more significant than everything else.

The two countries over the past 40 years have gone through and overcome various periods in their relationship, including a long and burdensome phase of sharp confrontation. The accumulated experience clearly confirms the need to have clearly defined, legally fixed and, to the maximum extent, conflict-free borders.

There are three levels of participation of states in world politics. The first is the level of a superpower, when the country itself determines its goals and independently achieves their implementation. The second level is the middle country: it no longer defines goals, but only its own priorities within foreign goals recognized as acceptable to itself. And, finally, the third level - when a country can do little on its own, and therefore chooses such a strong partner, within the framework of whose policy it arranges its existence; the calculation is based on the fact that the patron power will give some protection to the client power.

Our level is far from the first. And, apparently, in this case, Putin made a useful move for the state of the second level - he tried to be in alliance with the right power. If for this it was necessary to sacrifice some fraction of the river backwaters, then this price looks acceptable.