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Russia to return Chinese territory siezed during 1929 border skirmish
Russia will soon return 174 sq km of territory on the northeast border to China, ending more than 40 years of negotiations.Putin making nice? Eh? The area to be returned is half of the Chinese territory the former Soviet Union occupied during a 1929 border skirmish. In Chinese, the area is collectively referred to as the Heixiazi Islands. The two countries will sign an agreement to this effect during Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov's two-day visit to Beijing that starts today. What did they stand to gain by this? Russian territory is inviolate... According to the agreement to be signed, Russia will return Yinlong Island (Tarabarov Island) and half of Heixiazi Island (Bolshoi Ussuriysky Island). The islands are at the confluence of the Heilongjiang and the Wusulijiang rivers that serve as the natural border between the two countries. "This will end the boundary demarcation work (between China and Russia), for which the two countries have been negotiating for more than 40 years," the Russian Foreign Ministry said on Friday. Posted by: gromky 2008-07-23 |
| http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=244940 |