Bolshoy Ussuriysky Island#Agreement between Russia and People's Republic of China

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The 1860 Convention of Peking stipulated that the boundary between Russia and China lay along the Amur and Ussuri rivers. As such, the island at the confluence of the two rivers was Chinese. Until 2004, Bolshoy Ussuriyskiy Island was the site of a territorial dispute between mainland China and Russia. The Soviet Union forcefully occupied Bolshoy Ussuriyskiy and Yinlong Islands in 1929 in the wake of a Russo-Manchurian conflict, but this was not accepted by China. While Russia governed the islands as a part of Khabarovsk Krai, China claimed them as a part of Fuyuan County, Heilongjiang province, the easternmost part of China.

The difficulty in settling this dispute involved competing interests between Russia and China. To settle the boundary along the lines claimed by China would have subjected settled parts of the city of Khabarovsk to the range of artillery emplaced on Heixiazi. However, by occupying the entire island, Russia controlled the entire Amur and Ussuri waterway and gave Khabarovsk a comfortable buffer zone. During its control of the island, Russia refused navigational access to the Amur and Ussuri to Chinese ships.{{cite web |author=Maxwell |first=Neville |date=June 2007 |title=How the Sino-Russian Boundary Conflict Was Finally Settled: From Nerchinsk 1689 to Vladivostok 2005 via Zhenbao Island 1969 |url=http://www.isn.ethz.ch/isn/Digital-Library/Publications/Detail/?ots591=0c54e3b3-1e9c-be1e-2c24-a6a8c7060233&lng=en&id=34990 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141031023119/http://www.isn.ethz.ch/Digital-Library/Publications/Detail/?ots591=0c54e3b3-1e9c-be1e-2c24-a6a8c7060233&lng=en&id=34990 |archive-date=31 October 2014 |accessdate=30 October 2014 |publisher= |url-status=live }}

On 14 October 2004, the Complementary Agreement between the People's Republic of China and the Russian Federation on the Eastern Section of the China-Russia Boundary was signed, in which Russia agreed to relinquish control over Yinlong Island and around half of Bolshoy Ussuriysky. About 170 square kilometres of Bolshoy Ussuriysky was transferred to mainland China, while the rest remained under Russia's jurisdiction.{{Citation needed|date=May 2021}} In return, mainland China agreed to drop all territorial claims to the remainder of Bolshoy Ussuriysky kept by Russia and received the right to navigate ships along the main channel of the Amur.{{Citation needed|date=May 2021}}

File:Bolshoy Ussuriysky and Tarabarov EN.svg

In 2005, the Russian Federal Assembly and the mainland Chinese National People's Congress approved the Sino-Russian Border Agreement. On 21 July 2008, an agreement was signed in Beijing by the mainland Chinese and Russian Foreign Ministers that finalized the border demarcation and formally ended negotiations. Under the agreement, Russia would transfer approximately 174 km² of territory to mainland China.{{cite news |title=Business Standard Article - source for 174 km² figure |url=http://www.business-standard.com/india/storypage.php?tp=on&autono=42718 |accessdate=30 October 2014 |newspaper=Business Standard India |publisher= |archive-date=11 February 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120211141134/http://www.business-standard.com/india/storypage.php?tp=on&autono=42718 |url-status=dead }} The transfer took place on 14 October 2008.{{citation needed|date=May 2023}} The area transferred to mainland China is largely uninhabited.{{cite news|url=http://www.economist.com/world/asia/displaystory.cfm?story_id=11792951|title=Economist article including map of new Russia China Border|newspaper=The Economist|date=24 July 2008|accessdate=30 October 2014}} The Mainland Chinese part of the island is situated in the district of Fuyuan City in the province of Heilongjiang, mainland China's easternmost county.

The agreement was met with controversy on both sides of the border. In May 2005, Cossacks in Khabarovsk demonstrated against the loss of half of Bolshoy Ussuriysky. In return, some Chinese media commentators in Hong Kong, Taiwan and along with Overseas Chinese groups outside mainland China criticized the PRC for signing the agreement, which they regarded as sealing as permanent the loss of former Chinese territory such as Outer Manchuria to the Russian Federation.{{Citation needed|date=March 2024}}

The Government of the Republic of China (ROC) in Taipei has never recognized the sovereignty of the PRC government in Beijing. Therefore, the ROC still formally claims all parts of the Heixiazi Islands, as it does not consider border treaties signed by the PRC with other countries to be valid.{{Citation needed|date=March 2024}}

According to a 2002 study by Iwashita Akihiro, a Japanese specialist on Slavic relations, “Most of Khabarovsk’s local elites, in particular military, considered the islands of strategic importance since they fenced off Khabarovsk from China. If the border was drawn, relying upon the ‘main channel principle’, the two islands would have passed to China. This is why the Soviet Union insisted on the legal exceptionality of the two islands in its negotiations with China during the late 1980s, while strengthening its de facto control of these islands".Russia Today{{unreliable source|date=October 2024}}

In 2023, the Chinese Global Times published the "2023 edition of China's standard map" that appeared to include all of the island's territory as China's.{{cite news |title=Why is Putin suddenly attacking China? |url=https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/why-is-putin-suddenly-attacking-china/ar-AA1qHeSt |newspaper=MSN |date=17 September 2024 |accessdate=18 September 2024}}{{cite news |title=Explained: Why Has Russia Rejected China's New Map, What All Territorial Disputes Does China Have With Neighbours? |url=https://www.outlookindia.com/international/explained-why-has-russia-rejected-china-new-map-what-all-territorial-disputes-does-china-have-with-neighbours-news-315595 |date=4 September 2023 |accessdate=18 September 2024 |newspaper=Outlook India |publisher=Outlook Publishing India Pvt Ltd.}}{{unreliable source|date=October 2024}} The map's publication led to some controversy in Japan and states in the South China Sea, while the Russian government made various statements since, claiming that 'the border issue between our countries has been finally resolved', and signing a roadmap for the 'joint development' of the island with the People's Republic of China in May 2024.{{Cite web |title=One island, two countries: A look at how Chinese-Russian relations are playing out in the Far East |author=Ekaterina Venkina |work=Eurasianet |date=14 June 2024 |access-date=14 February 2025 |url=https://eurasianet.org/one-island-two-countries-a-look-at-how-chinese-russian-relations-are-playing-out-in-the-far-east}} Analysts have pointed out the issue is complex; while the Kremlin is keen to emphasise its sovereignty over its half of the island in theory, it seems to acknowledge its increased economic and strategic dependence on Beijing (which has heavily invested in developing its part of the island), and not so much interested in developing its share of Bolshoy Ussuriysky Island in practice.

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The total area of these territories in the Khabarovsk region is approximately 340 square kilometres.{{Citation needed|date=May 2021}}

The Mainland Chinese section of the island is part of Fuyuan, Heilongjiang. The Russian section is part of Khabarovsky District of Khabarovsk Krai.

{{see also|Zhenbao Island}}

In 2015, the PRC registered the island as a nature reserve to protect biodiversity. The island hosts 505 species of flora and 351 species of fauna, 44 of which are nationally protected species, including the Siberian tiger.{{Cite web|url=http://hlj.people.com.cn/n/2015/0319/c220027-24207542.html|title=人民网--404页面|access-date=2020-07-22|archive-date=2017-09-03|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170903015243/http://hlj.people.com.cn/n/2015/0319/c220027-24207542.html|url-status=dead}}{{Cite web |url=https://news.ji-qi.com/discovery/animal/201803/64-1014826.html |title=黑瞎子岛解放军透过望远镜发现普京放生的东北虎"乌斯京" (The People's Liberation Army of Heixiazi Island discovered the Siberian tiger "Ustin" released by Putin through binoculars) |access-date=2020-07-22 |archive-date=2020-07-22 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200722094608/https://news.ji-qi.com/discovery/animal/201803/64-1014826.html |url-status=dead }} There is a "bear park" to contain black bears on the island.{{Cite web |date=18 November 2018 |title=黑龙江一保护区两熊一虎仍"在逃"？保护区回应-新华网 |url=http://www.xinhuanet.com/politics/2018-11/18/c_1123729849.htm |website=Xinhua}}

• Sino-Russian border conflicts
• Treaty of Nerchinsk
• 1991 Sino-Soviet Border Agreement
• List of divided islands
• Abagaitu Islet

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{{Commons category|Bolshoy Ussuriysky Island}}

{{Wiktionary|Bolshoy Ussuriysky Island|Heixiazi}}

• [http://www.google.com/maps?f=q&sll=44.465151,-95.712891&sspn=30.254357,82.441406&ie=UTF8&z=10&ll=48.370848,134.767914&spn=0.440631,1.288147&t=k&om=1 Google Maps satellite image of Heixiazi/Bolshoy Ussuriysky and Yinlong islands]
• [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AqsX86x71_A 黑瞎子島紅太陽升起處 一個島兩個國 中國進行式 20170514] {{in lang|zh}}

{{Territorial disputes in East and South Asia}}

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Category:River islands of China

Category:River islands of Russia

Category:Geography of Northeast Asia

Category:China–Soviet Union relations

Category:International islands

Category:China–Russia border

Category:Islands of Khabarovsk Krai

Category:Islands of Heilongjiang

Category:Former disputed islands

Category:Territorial disputes of the Soviet Union

Category:Territorial disputes of China

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Category:Sino-Soviet conflict (1929)