The Sino-Russian boundary survey was delayed for half a century
It was postponed for a variety of reasons, in particular the Zhenbao Island incident and the conflict over the border in several places.
Until the reform, the conflict improved, until the collapse of the Soviet Union, there was no such process. So in the end, China and Russia signed a treaty and fixed the border.
The bigger deal here is that nearly half of the island was returned to China.
The Black Blind Island was originally Chinese according to the Aihui Treaty, and it was actually controlled by China, until Zhang Xueliang was in charge of the Northeast when the Middle East Road incident occurred, Zhang Xueliang was young and vigorous at that time, so under Chiang Kai-shek's letter and packing ticket, he announced the recovery of the Middle East Road, but he was not well prepared in advance, and he had always misjudged the situation, and as a result, the Soviet Red Army in turn had the upper hand, and the Soviet Red Army took the opportunity to occupy the Black Blind Island in its entirety. So when we drew the border in 2001, China wanted back 171 square kilometers (about 335 square kilometers of Black Blind Island, about 164 square kilometers to Russia).
China has now drawn a line with Russia and the former Soviet Union, and with other countries like Kazakhstan and Tajikistan recently, it has basically been gradually adjusting its borders.
Some of the disputed areas have been adjusted in another place, and some have been readjusted and demarcated according to various factors, and there is basically not much change, and there is no threat in sight at present, because the actual boundaries have long been formed.
The Republic of Tuva – the forever lost Tangnu-Ulianghai
But there is one place that has been lost forever, Tangnu Ulianghai, which is almost 170,000 square kilometers, and the Qing Dynasty has been effectively ruling there, and officials have ruled there for generations.
But when Outer Mongolia became independent, there was a problem, because it was between Outer Mongolia and Russia, and there was no border with the present, so there was no way to rule and administer, and the Soviet Union had a large number of people operating there, so in the 40s of the 20th century, the Supreme Soviet issued a circular "to admit the local people to the Soviet Union at the strong request." So we see Crimea now, this kind of thing that Russia (and the former Soviet Union) has done not once or twice. The Republic of Tuva was formed there until now, the Republic of Tuva inside the Russian Federation. Today, there is the village of Tuva in Kanas Lake, Xinjiang, which used to be a part of Mongolia and mainly believed in Tibetan Buddhism.
There is a place here that is a World Natural Heritage Site.
Everyone remembers that Putin once went there for his birthday two years in a row, once on horseback, and once gave his watch to a herdsman's son, this is the place. But this place, so far, there is no way to express its position, it is too cheap to admit it, and there is no way to admit that there is no boundary now.
Now many people don't know that there is such a thing as Tangnu Ulianghai.
As you can see on the map, it's just outside Outer Mongolia.
North Korea's territory has expanded because of China's blessings
The border with North Korea was basically formed in the era of Zhu Yuanzhang, Taizu of the Ming Dynasty, that is, it was bounded by the Yalu River and the Tumen River, with China to the north and Korea to the south. But this was not the case before Zhu Yuanzhang. Before Zhu Yuanzhang, including the Yuan Dynasty and the Liao Dynasty built by the Khitans, North Korea was limited to a place called Tieling in the middle, and the north of Tieling was Chinese, which was only about 2/3 of the Korean Peninsula at that time, and the other 1/3 was close to the Tumen River, and the north and east of the Tieling in the south of the Tumen River were still China.
When Zhu Yuanzhang established the Ming Dynasty, North Korea was the Wang regime, and his attitude towards Zhu Yuanzhang was disrespectful and unfriendly.
Soon after the establishment of the Li dynasty, the king of the Li family was very deferential to Zhu Yuanzhang. Because of his newly established regime, China is the suzerain, and he is very deferential to Zhu Yuanzhang. Zhu Yuanzhang was very happy, and gave him this place with a stroke of his pen. North Korea has expanded by a third of its area at once, and the border line is basically clear.
But when it comes to the boundary of Changbai Mountain, it is not clear, and Changbai Mountain has its particularities.
Changbai Mountain is the sacred mountain of the Manchus - the land of Longxing, and the Manchus believe that this is their birthplace.
However, the Koreans also considered Changbai Mountain to be their sacred mountain, Baekdu Mountain, so they regularly went to Changbai Mountain during the Qing Dynasty. The Qing Dynasty once sent his minister Mukden to survey the border, and Mukden found that the real border between China and Korea was not Changbai Mountain, but Xiaobai Mountain to the south of Changbai Mountain, which means that the entire Changbai Mountain Tianchi was Chinese. This monument is still there, placed in the museum, called the Mukden Monument. But when he returned, the Koreans secretly moved the monument north and expanded it.
Then, when China and North Korea surveyed the border, out of consideration for North Korea, they instructed us to take care of North Korea's interests during the negotiations, and then assigned more than 60 percent of the highest Baektu Mountain of Tianchi Peak around Changbai Mountain to North Korea.
Why does North Korea value Mt. Baekdu?
In addition to historical reasons, they also always claimed that Kim Il Sung's secret camp against Japan was on Mt. Baektu, so after he got it, he renamed it "General Peak" and later "Jeongil Peak".
At the party congress held in North Korea, Kim Jong-un has always stressed the need to inherit the revolutionary lineage of "Paektu Mountain" from generation to generation.
There are some grand events in North Korea, and they have to go to Mt. Paektu to hold ceremonies and set off fireworks.
On the issue of Changbai Mountain, the treaty has been signed and the border has been demarcated, so this is the only way.
An outlet to the sea on the Tumen River should be created and used
At present, the big problem left on the Sino-Korean border is the mouth of the Tumen River, because according to the results of the Qing Dynasty's demarcation, the original place east of the Ussuri River was all Chinese, and then it was first jointly managed by China and Russia, and then all of it was returned to Russia.
The southern shore of the Tumen River is North Korea, but the northern bank, 15 kilometers from the mouth of the sea, has become the place of Russia, so China has no access to the sea.
At that time, the Qing Dynasty's negotiator Wu Dashi tried his best to fight for it, and Russia also recognized that China had the Tumen River as an outlet to the sea, and we reiterated this point when we demarcated the border with Russia, but now the real problem is that there is a railway bridge between Korea and Russia passing here. And that railroad bridge is very low and has limited headroom. I think that if our country thinks about long-term strategy, we should maintain the access to the sea of the Tumen River at all costs, and we should actually use it.
For example, if we pay for another high bridge and tear down the low one, we will dredge the waterway here and establish the necessary security measures at the mouth of the sea.
Because this is the only outlet to the Pacific Ocean and the Sea of Japan in the northeast, if this outlet is gone, we will have to bypass the Liaodong Peninsula, the Shandong Peninsula, and North Korea to enter the Pacific Ocean.
Only the Sino-Vietnamese border survey did not suffer
The Sino-Vietnamese border and land border are basically more favorable to us, and this is the only one that has not suffered losses in the demarcation of borders with foreign neighbors.
Because France lost the Sino-French War in Vietnam, the Qing Dynasty agreed to sign a treaty and abandon the regulations on Vietnam's suzerain, and the French were a little overjoyed and not ready. Therefore, China took the initiative when demarcating the border.
On the other hand, Deng Chengxiu, an official who organized the demarcation of the border in Guangxi, was not only patriotic, but also took a firm stand and fought for every inch of land.
Sometimes the French government negotiated with China to make him make concessions, and he resolutely refused to give in, and he was clear about it. In addition, the residents of the Sino-Vietnamese border are unwilling to be ruled by France, so once the investigation is conducted, he has expressed that he is a member of the Qing Dynasty, so this land border is basically guaranteed to the rights we should have.
The biggest problem in the sea is Bai Long Mei Island, which was supposed to be Chinese, but was given to Vietnam in the 50s of the last century. If Bailongwei Island is demarcated, our boundary will be drawn here, but if Bailongwei Island is ours, it will be drawn there.
Despite the arguments of the diplomats and the efforts of the great efforts, the loss of Bailongwei Island ultimately caused the loss of the sea area that should have been ours.