Diplomatic negotiation is a technical task, and the negotiation process is full of strange things, and the means used are also full of tricks. But whether you can achieve the desired goal is the key to the matter.
Tsarist Russia and the Soviet Union are in the same vein, and they have a lot of experience in diplomatic negotiations. After all, this is a country that has been dealing with both the East and the West for a long time, and is well aware of the differences between the East and the West.
The Russians' negotiation skills in the East are the essence of arrogance. They think that as long as they maintain this condescending attitude, even if they are no longer reasonable, they can grab a lot of benefits from the East, because they feel that the Easterners are afraid of this.
Muravyov: With the Chinese, you cannot negotiate peacefully
In 1847, Muravyov was appointed governor of Siberia. Since the signing of the Treaty of Nebuchu in 1689, Tsarist Russia has been dissatisfied with the territory of eastern Siberia. Because there is no decent outlet to the sea here.
When Muravyov came here, he was naturally very dissatisfied. He even felt that Tsar Nicholas I had sent him here because he was a reformer, contrary to the Tsar's conservative thinking.
However, when Muravyov arrived, he immediately saw an opportunity. He found that the vast area south of the Trans-Khingan Mountains had every chance of being taken over by Russia.
No, didn't the two sides sign the "Treaty of Nebuchu" in 1689, stipulating that the outer Khingan Mountains were the boundary? This is not a matter for Tsarist Russia, the treaty should be obeyed when the strength is insufficient, and the strength will be in place and simply torn up.
To this end, starting in 1847, Muravyov sent a large number of expeditions across the Trans-Khingan Mountains and brazenly invaded the Outer Northeast.
At that time, the Qing court still adopted a ban policy in the northeast, and the people in the customs basically could not get here, which gave the Russians the opportunity to take advantage of the loopholes.
By 1858, Tsarist Russia had established a number of strongholds north of the Heilongjiang River and south of the Outer Khing'an Mountains. In this case, just in time for the Second Opium War, Muravyov felt that the time was ripe, so he drove a small boat to the city of Aihui.
The reason given by Muravyov at the beginning was to help China defend against Britain. Since he came to help, he must get benefits, so he asked for the Heilongjiang River and the Ussuri River as the boundary.
But Heilongjiang General Yishan discovered the loophole at once: Dude, we have already signed a border treaty, and the south of the Outer Xing'an Mountains is China's territory!
Muravyov quarreled with Yishan for a long time, and finally he threw the draft treaty he had drawn up directly into Yishan's hands, brushed his sleeves away, and asked Yishan to give a reply the next day.
Isn't Yishan stupid, he buried millions of land in vain, and he can't bear the infamy of the ages? For this reason, the next day, Yishan directly asked people to return the Russian draft to the Russian side.
When Muravyov learned of this, he was so angry that he sailed again to the city of Aihun and forced Yishan to sign, and said the famous saying in Russian history: You cannot negotiate peacefully with the Chinese.
Verbal deterrence was fruitless, and Muravyov fired artillery directly on the other side of Aihui City that night, and the next day Yishan was frightened and had to sign the "Aihui Treaty".
The treaty is billed as the largest unequal treaty in China's modern history, as it covers millions of square kilometers of land. It was in this way of deterrence that Muravyov was able to obtain the treaty.
Babkov: The state border must be demarcated according to the map of Russia, otherwise you will bear the consequences
Babkov served for a long time in the Tsarist Russian army, and by 1864 he was the main head of the Russian side for the northwestern demarcation of China and Russia. As soon as the negotiations began, Babkov showed the characteristics of a soldier, and he demanded that all the territories in the northwest of the Qing Dynasty other than Karen should belong to Russia, and the two sides should be bounded by the Qing Dynasty's resident Karen.
Of course, this is unreasonable, because the resident Karen is in charge of the affairs of the surrounding circle, which is equivalent to the county office. Whose county government is built on the edge of the county?
In addition to the resident Karen, the Qing Dynasty also had a lot of mobile Karen, which was responsible for patrolling the border and collecting taxes. Therefore, in addition to the permanent Karen, the Qing Dynasty also had a large territory in the northwest, about 440,000 square kilometers.
Even so, the Qing delegates made some concessions, intending to compromise and demarcate the boundary from the original border of the Qing Dynasty to the permanent Karen. To put it simply, it is 440,000 square kilometers, and half of it is 220,000 square kilometers to Tsarist Russia.
This was already a very humiliating concession, but Babkov paid no attention to it. They want the whole thing, not half of it, and they can't stop without achieving it.
A few days later, Babkov simply threw the draft he had drawn up to the Qing court representatives, demanding that the Qing court must demarcate the border according to the Russian map and give a reply within 10 days, otherwise it would not be discussed, and the Qing court would be responsible for all the consequences.
Ten days later, the Qing court still did not agree to the request of Tsarist Russia, and Babkov did not drag his feet, and directly announced that he would not talk about it, and planned to return to St. Petersburg to resume his post at a later date.
In fact, this is a negotiation technique, and Babkov intends to use this method to coerce the Qing court to show weakness, and the Qing court representative is really fooled: don't mind, big brother, if you have something to sit down and talk about it.
Babkov resolutely refused the Qing court's request for renegotiation, packed up his baggage and left. The negotiations were completely deadlocked.
Don't think that Babkov will have no back, and if he really leaves, won't he be able to achieve his goal? For this reason, the Tsarist side of Russia directly deployed troops on the border, intending to use force to solve the border issue. It is clear that this is another diplomatic trick of Tsarist Russia, the purpose of which is to force the Qing court to comply.
When the matter reached Prince Gong, Yi Yi let out a long sigh, he thought that Tsarist Russia was really arrogant, and if he didn't agree to their request earlier, he might lose even more.
For this reason, in 1864, Babkov and the Qing court representatives signed the "Sino-Russian Treaty on the Survey and Demarcation of the Northwest Boundary", and all 440,000 square kilometers of land in the northwest were pocketed by Tsarist Russia. The lakes of Balkhash, Ixai and Zaisangbo in northwest China were all occupied by Tsarist Russia.
Stalin: If you don't have the strength, don't talk nonsense with me
When the Qing Dynasty was about to fall in 1911, Tsarist Russia instigated the nobles of Outer Mongolia to go it alone. In 1915, under the coercion of Tsarist Russia, although Outer Mongolia still belonged to China, it was given the right of autonomy, which meant that the actual power was in the hands of Tsarist Russia.
However, by the time of the fall of Tsarist Russia in 1917, Outer Mongolia began to wander between China and Russia again. In 1919, Beiyang Xu Shuzheng briefly recovered Outer Mongolia, and at the same time, Soviet Russia also formed its own team in Outer Mongolia.
In 1920, Xu Shuzheng was transferred, and Outer Mongolia completely fell to Soviet Russia. Under the operation of the Soviet Union, Outer Mongolia declared independence for the second time in 1924 and established its own republic. For more than 20 years, Outer Mongolia remained under the control of the Soviet Union.
Even so, until the eve of the end of World War II, China and the Soviet Union did not go it alone on Outer Mongolia, and no unequal treaties were signed, which was completely unilateral by the Soviet Union.
At the Yalta Conference in February 1945, Stalin directly put forward the conditions for this declaration of war against Japan, one of which was to demand that Outer Mongolia remain as it was.
Rumors of this matter were also heard in the country, so they immediately sent people to Moscow to talk to Stalin. Stalin smiled coldly at this, and said: If China can solve the Japanese problem alone, then I will not ask for anything, but if not, then don't blame us for making demands. You don't have the strength and you want to regain the lost ground, that's nonsense.
It is clear that the Soviet Union's desire for territory is no less than that of Japan and Germany, which already owns more than 22 million square kilometers of land, but is still not satisfied and wants more. With 1.56 million square kilometers of Outer Mongolia, they seem to be determined to win.
All the theories of the Chinese representatives, in the face of Stalin's attitude, seemed so pale and weak. Stalin said frankly: The basis of all negotiations must be the basis of the Yalta agreement, otherwise there should be no talks.
In the Yalta Agreement, the Soviet Union received too many benefits in the East, such as maintaining the status quo in Outer Mongolia, Sakhalin Island and the Kuril Islands belonged to the Soviet Union, Port Arthur was used as a military port by the Soviet Union, and Dalian was used as an international port, and the Soviet Union had the right of first refusal. The Eastern Railway could be a Sino-Soviet joint venture, but it was held by the Soviet Union for the first 30 years.
This series of demands undoubtedly hurt China's sovereignty too much, and Stalin not only did not have the idea of returning Outer Mongolia, but even planned to seize a large number of rights and interests in Northeast China.
National strength is the backing, and the negotiation attitude determines the outcome
Tsarist Russia and the Soviet Union were both very powerful countries, so their negotiators, when negotiating with the East, did not show any humility and courtesy, and they were completely high-minded, superior to inferior.
However, it was precisely this attitude that allowed Tsarist Russia and the Soviet Union to take advantage of the negotiations with the East. In their eyes, as long as Russia has interests and needs, all the treaties signed in the past are waste paper, and new ones can be signed!