A series of unequal treaties were signed between Tsarist Russia and the Qing Dynasty, and we have talked a lot about this, such as the "Aihui Treaty" in 1858 and the "Sino-Russian Treaty of Beijing" in 1860, which together ceded more than 1 million square kilometers of land in China's outer northeast.
The 1864 Treaty on the Survey and Demarcation of the Northwest Boundary and the 1881 Sino-Russian Treaty of Ili combined to cede 510,000 square kilometers of land in the northwest of China.
However, in the northwest corner of China's Outer Mongolia, there is a place called "Tangnu Wulianghai", which has a territory of about 170,000 square kilometers. What is it that has become the territory of the USSR and modern Russia without any unequal treaties as a basis?
Tangnu Ulianghai was a direct territory of the Qing Dynasty
According to the logic of the Russian occupation of land, the vast area of Siberia was terra nullius, so they could occupy it as they pleased. In fact, it is not that there is no master, but the master was eliminated by them, such as the Siberian Khanate.
As for the Outer Northeast and the Outer Northwest, they were forcibly cut from the Qing Dynasty through boundary treaties. Because there is a treaty as a basis, they also feel that it is reasonable and legitimate.
But when we take out the Treaty of Nebuchu, they will say that this time and that time, more than 100 years later, the treaty can be counted.
The question then arises: Isn't it more than 100 years since the treaties that ceded land in the Outer Northeast and Outer Northwest? Should they also be annulled? This matter can be discussed and discussed.
The origin of the Tangnu Wulianghai and the Central Plains Dynasty can be directly traced back to the Tang Dynasty. Before the Tang Dynasty, this place was under the jurisdiction of ethnic minority groups such as the Xiongnu, Xianbei, and Turkic.
In the Tang Dynasty, the locals asked the imperial court to set up a yamen here, so the Jiankun Governor's Mansion was established, which was subordinate to the Anxi Metropolitan Protectorate and was an inseparable part of the northwest territory.
During the Southern Song Dynasty, it was owned by the Western Liao. During the Yuan Dynasty, Tangnu Wulianghai was incorporated into Lingbei Province and called it Yilanzhou. During the Ming Dynasty, it was owned by Warat, and in 1655 the Qing Dynasty officially canonized the area and brought it under its rule.
Therefore, Tangnu Ulianghai is completely different from those deserted places in Siberia, which has a strong connection with the Central Plains Dynasty since ancient times, and has been under the management of the Central Plains Dynasty for a long time.
Until the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century, it had nothing to do with Russia. This is also a very strange place where this site is included in Russia.
There was no basis for a treaty, but Tsarist Russia was able to colonize it for 7 years
There is no historical basis, let alone legal basis, and it is really incredible that this place actually became the Republic of Tuva in Russia. So what is the whole process of its departure from the bosom of the motherland?
During the Tsarist period, Tsarist Russia has always liked to send various expeditions to China, which are called expeditions, but in fact, they are here to explore intelligence, describe the terrain, and lay the foundation for them to occupy this territory in the future.
The Outer Northeast, the Outer Northwest, and the Outer Mongolia, including Xinjiang and the Northeast, have all sent a large number of expeditions, and among the goals of Tsarist Russia, the north of the Great Wall is their dish.
Therefore, Tangnu Ulianghai was naturally not spared, and became the meat in the eyes of Tsarist Russia very early. However, according to the Treaty of Kyakhta in 1728, the entire Outer Mongolia, including the Tangnu-Ulianghai region, was within the territory of the Qing Dynasty.
If it wants to eat this territory, then Tsarist Russia will have to abolish the Kyakhta Treaty. The abrogation of one Nebuchu Treaty has already been made, and the abrogation of another Kyakhta Treaty does not seem to be a problem. So what's holding them back?
The main reason is that there are certain differences between Tangnu Ulianghai and the outer northeast.
The Tangnu-Ulianghai area, next to today's Mongolia, is roughly the Uriya Sutai of the year, commonly known as Outer Mongolia. The place was inhabited by a large number of people, and was directly under the leadership of General Uriya Sutai.
In addition, in 1869, Tsarist Russia had already ceded more than 40,000 square kilometers of land northwest of the Tangnu-Uliang Sea through the "Uriya Sutai Boundary Treaty", and they really could not find any other reason to continue to cede land.
For this reason, they changed their way of playing, intending to instigate the place to stand on its own, and then let them join them. Isn't this a familiar gameplay? After all, it hasn't gone out of style.
If you want this territory to follow you, you must first have a large number of your own people here. To this end, Tsarist Russia began their plan:
- The first step was to buy off the local nobles and make them agents of Tsarist Russia.
- The second step was to buy a large amount of land in the local area, so that the Russians became the big landowners of the area.
- The third step was to start the resettlement program, and with the land, a large number of Russians migrated to settle here.
After doing these few steps, the news of the fall of the Qing Dynasty suddenly came. In 1912, Tsarist Russia decisively contacted its agents in Tangnu-Ulianghai and the Russians to instigate a movement for self-reliance. At the same time, Outer Mongolia also declared its independence.
Unconvinced by colonial rule, the locals contacted the Beiyang Group in 1916 and hoped that they would help. The Beiyang Group and Tsarist Russia negotiated this matter, and no one has a bird for you.
As a result, in 1917, Tsarist Russia was overthrown, and the Beiyang Group did take advantage of this opportunity to recover the Tangnu Ulianghai in 1919, which had been colonized by Tsarist Russia for 7 years.
As soon as the USSR struck, Donnu did not
It stands to reason that there is nothing wrong with returning to China here, and it is reasonable to say both historically and legally. And this time, it was recovered by the Beiyang army, and everything was accounted for.
But the Russians were not convinced, and at this time it was already Soviet Russia that was in charge of Russia. They felt that Tsarist Russia had been planning for many years and invested a lot of money in the matter of Tangnu Ulianghai, so when they inherited the land of Tsarist Russia, they also had to inherit this place by the way.
In 1921, the remnants of Tsarist Russia reoccupied Tangnu Ulianghai, and our local defenders were basically killed, and then the Soviet army defeated the remnants of Tsarist Russia and captured Tangnu Ulianghai, and everything was as arranged.
At this time, the Soviet Union began to follow the path of Tsarist Russia again, they first encouraged Tangnu to stand on their own, and announced to the outside world that the Soviet Union would not annex this territory, and their future was left to their own decisions.
It seems to be a high wind and bright festival, but in fact, everything in Tangnu and Ulianghai is under the control of the Soviet Union. In 1926, the region was renamed the Republic of Tuva and was completely under the command of the Soviet Union.
In 1941, the Republic of Tuva sent troops to participate in the Great Patriotic War in the USSR, and this could not be more obvious. It was only in 1944 that, at the repeated requests of the Republic of Tuva, the Soviet Union "reluctantly" incorporated it into its territory and brought it under the banner of Soviet Russia. I didn't say hello to us about this, it was purely unilateral.
In this way, without any treaty, the Soviet Union pocketed 170,000 square kilometers of the Tangnu-Uliang Sea. It remained under Soviet leadership for decades since.
After the collapse of the Soviet Union, they voluntarily chose to follow the Russian Federation
After the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, the Republic of Tuva also became an independent state, but the Russian Federation still existed, and they had been following the Russian Federation all the time, so in 1992 they became a member of the Russian Federation.
From the beginning to the end, the mainland had recourse to this area, and to this day, in fact, in all the agreements we have signed with Russia, the dispute has been put aside for the time being, and the status quo has been maintained. Therefore, the situation here is completely different from that of the Outer Northeast and the Outer Northwest.