In ancient and recent history, there have been countless wars fought by various countries in the world over land. In the early twentieth century, two countries also went to war over land, which, outrageously, belonged to China. What's going on here?
1. The geographical environment of Sakhalin Island
This land is Sakhalin Island, which has also been called bitter leaf and bitter wood in the history of the mainland, and Japan calls it "Northern Ezo Land".
Sakhalin Island is located in the northeast of Eurasia and southeast of the mouth of the Heilongjiang River. It is bordered by the Sea of Okhotsk to the east, the Mainland Mainland to the west via the Maemiya Strait, and the Soya Strait to the south and Hokkaido, Japan.
Now Sakhalin Island is the largest island in Russia and belongs to the jurisdiction of Sakhalin Oblast, so sakhalin Island is translated as "Sakhalin Island" in Russian. Sakhalin Island has a total area of about 76,400 square kilometers, about twice that of mainland Taiwan, and the local permanent population is about 493,000.
The territory of Sakhalin Island can be divided into two large topographic plates, the northern part of Sakhalin Island is mainly hilly and mountainous, the terrain is relatively flat, the southern part is composed of the Eastern Sakhalin Mountains and the Western Sakhalin Mountains, the highest peak is the Lopatina Mountain, reaching an altitude of 1609 meters.
Sakhalin island has a temperate monsoon climate, which is a transitional climate between subtropical and temperate zones, with hot and rainy summers, cold and dry winters, and most of the average annual temperatures are above 0 degrees Celsius. There is a lot of local precipitation, of which the average annual precipitation in the plain area is about 600 mm, and the average annual precipitation in the mountains can reach 1200 mm.
Sakhalin Island has long been ruled directly or indirectly by the mainland for a long time. On September 7, 1689, the Treaty of Nebuchu signed between China and Russia also stipulated that the Heilongjiang River and the vast area of the Ussuri River Basin, including Sakhalin Island, were under the jurisdiction of China. But now Sakhalin Island is part of Russian territory, what happened to that?
Second, japan and Tsarist Russia broke out into war, and what they were fighting for was the territory belonging to China
In 1858, the Treaty of Yaohun was signed between China and Russia, and in 1860, the Qing government, which had lost the Second Opium War, signed the Sino-Russian Beijing Treaty with Tsarist Russia, which included the qing government to confirm the legitimacy of the Treaty of Yaohun and cede about 400,000 square kilometers of territory east of the Ussuri River in Heilongjiang, including Sakhalin Island.
After this, Sakhalin Island became one of the territories of Tsarist Russia, but from the geographical location of Sakhalin Island, it can be seen that its southern side is across the Sogya Strait and Japan, so Sakhalin Island is not far from Japan. As an island country, Japan is resource-poor and ambitious, so Japan has begun the process of expanding its power abroad, and their first target is Sakhalin Island.
Another reason why Japan wanted to occupy Sakhalin Island was that in the 17th century, Japan had already sent its nationals into Sakhalin Island, and Tsarist Russia also sent immigrants into Sakhalin Island. Therefore, when Tsarist Russia occupied Sakhalin Island, there were still some Japanese people on Sakhalin Island.
In 1904, war broke out between Japan and Russia over the Korean Peninsula and the Northeast, including Sakhalin Island. On August 10, 1905, Japan and Russia held peace talks in Portsmouth, usa, and on September 5 of the same year, the two countries signed the Treaty of Portsmouth, which followed the north-south division of Sakhalin Island.
Later, in 1917, the October Revolution broke out in Russia. Under these circumstances, Japan seized the opportunity to occupy all of Sakhalin Island. But japan's defeat in World War II in 1945 also lost its voice over Sakhalin Island. Finally, in 1951, Japan relinquished sovereignty over sakhalin island in the San Francisco Treaty. How important is Sakhalin's geography, and why do both Japan and Russia attach so much importance to it?
Third, the importance of Sakhalin Island's strategic location
First of all, Sakhalin Island is relatively large, it is about the size of two Taiwans, even in Russia, the largest country, it is still the largest island in Russia.
At present, Japan's land area is only about 378,000 square kilometers, so Sakhalin Island is about one-fifth of Japan's land area.
For Russia, although their land area is very large, a large part of the territory in siberia in North Asia is very harsh, and even some places are no man's land, so they also need more territory.
Secondly, the geographical location of Sakhalin Island is extremely important, it is located in the southeast direction of the mouth of the Heilongjiang River, connected to Russia in the west, and across the sea from Japan in the south, in the middle of the three countries of China, Japan and Russia. And it is surrounded by the sea on three sides, and now Sakhalin Island has many ports in the south and west, so it is also an important maritime transportation hub.
Finally, Sakhalin Island is also very resourceful.
First, Sakhalin Island has more than 6,000 rivers and 1,600 lakes, and its water resources are very rich. In addition, Sakhalin Island has numerous swamps. Second, Sakhalin Island is rich in forest resources and has many kinds. There are mainly Sakhalin fir, fish scale spruce, deciduous vine pine and so on.
In addition, Sakhalin Island has two very important resources, and the reserves are relatively rich, these two resources are oil and natural gas.
In 2003, the proven oil reserves in the northern part of Sakhalin Island had reached 7 billion tons, which is very amazing, and the oil reserves of the largest Daqing oil field on the mainland are probably only so much, and this does not include the oil resources in the northern part of Sakhalin Island, not only that, the natural gas reserves of Sakhalin Island are close to 280 million cubic meters.
In addition to oil and gas resources, the southern part of Sakhalin Island also has coal reserves of about 100 million tons, and the annual output is about 1 million tons.
But such a strategically important island is now not part of the mainland, which is a huge loss for the continent.
However, the loss of Sakhalin Island also makes us deeply aware of the principle that if we fall behind, we will be beaten. Now that the mainland is rich and strong, although it is too realistic for Sakhalin Island to want to take it back, the mainland can no longer lose the territory it now has.