Territorial dispute between China and Russia risks clouding friendly future

Despite the public image of cordiality presented by China and Russia, some observers suggest the friendship is on fragile foundations. Xi Jinping is visiting Moscow this week in a show of solidarity with Vladimir Putin. But a background dispute over territory in east Siberia could dangerously undo the comprehensive strategic partnership.

On 14 February, the Chinese Ministry of Natural Resources (CMNR) issued a decree  on the use of names on international maps. Some cities in Russia, the decree rules, must now carry Chinese names, replacing their Russian ones.

According to the 10-page document, maps covering Russia's east Siberia must carry the original Chinese names of eight large cities.

The best known, Vladivostok, the administrative capital of the region, is now to be officially called "Haishenwai".

A rocky relationship

On the eve of the Xi visit to Moscow, Russian President Vladimir Putin published a long letter eulogising the "partnership" between Moscow and Beijing, which, he says, " has always been built on mutual trust, respect for each other's sovereignty and interests." But does this reflect reality?

"Today, Beijing emphasises that this relationship is one with no limits, that they've always been friends," Michael Dillon, a scholar with the Lao China Institute of King's College in London told RFI.

"But if you look back at the relationship, it was never very easy." He points to Mao Zedong's difficult relationship with Stalin, the Sino-Soviet rift in the 1960s, which resulted in a border war in which "Chinese and Russian lives were lost." 

CMNR's announcement adds fuel to a long-simmering fire that flared up in 2020 after Russia's embassy in Beijing clumsily posted a message on Weibo, China's Twitter, about the 160th anniversary of the founding of Vladivostok.

Outraged bloggers fumed about the thousands of kilometres of land "taken" by Russia, who they said, had jumped on the bandwagon of the colonial powers hungry for Chinese territory.

• Ticking timebomb as Russia continues to occupy swathes of Chinese territory

The stretch of land in question became part of the Qing empire in 1689, under the Treaty of Nerchinsk, the first-ever treaty between Tsarist Russia and the Qing.

But due to corruption, foreign invasion and lacklustre government, the weakened empire was forced to sign the 1858 and 1860 Aigun and Peking Treaties which reversed the Nerchinsk document and granted the area to Russia. 

After Hong Kong, what about east Siberia?

According to historian Neville Maxwell, China had good reasons to stick to the 1860 Beijing treaty with Russia, no matter how humiliating.

For one, respecting the documents implied that the United Kingdom would honour its treaties with China, including that on the fate of London's Crown colony, Hong Kong, destined to be handed back to China in 1997.

Sino-Russian border talks begun in 1964 dragged on for decades and finally resulted in a treaty signed in 2005, ironically in Vladivostok, that, according to China's Foreign Ministry, "resolved all border disputes" between Beijing and Moscow.

But that latest border deal merely confirmed the lines set by the1858-1860 treaties and there was no mention at all of the enormous territory north of Heilongjiang Province that had been Chinese in the preceding centuries.

Reorganising the map?

For the time being, China is not likely to stir up complications in the region due to its global diplomatic ambitions.

On 21 February, the Foreign Ministry issued the Global Security Initiative Concept Paper ( GSI ), reflecting Xi Jinping's grand plan for China as an international peacemaker, possibly hoping to replace the US as the world's major powerbroker.

Beijing helped secure a deal between Iran and Saudi Arabia in early March with the two arch-enemies agreeing to re-open their respective embassies.

Xi's visit to Moscow and a proposal to end the war in Ukraine fit into this trend. The ultimate goal is to create stability along Beijing's multi-billion dollar " Belt and Road Initiative ".

The Chinese president, during this week's meeting with Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin, described Beijing and Moscow as "great neighbouring powers" and "strategic partners," saying China would "prioritise" ties with Russia.

Xi said Chinese Premier Li Qiang would "continue to prioritise the all-round strategic partnership between China and Russia," adding that: "we are great neighbouring powers and comprehensive strategic partners."

A public friendship

However, much of the Beijing-Moscow show of friendship is a public facade. In fact, " relations between China and Russia are on a knife's edge," Michael Dillon told RFI, adding that Putin "did not notify the Chinese in advance" of his planned invasion of Ukraine, when he met Xi just two weeks before Russian troops stormed across the border.

That may have stirred up memories of the Korean War (1950-53) where China "seems to have been dragged in against its own best interest" and witnessed hundreds of its nationals killed in action.

Although China is not directly involved in the Ukraine war, "there is a conflict within the Chinese leadership as to how far they should be supporting Putin," according to Dillon.

If the Ukraine war goes badly for Russia, China may not hesitate to dust off old territorial claims.

By insisting on giving Chinese names to cities in certain Russian territories, Beijing is letting Moscow know that it has not forgotten the vast territories it regards as historically Chinese.