In the blink of an eye, the third decade of the 21st century has begun, and many memories of the last century have gradually faded out of people's minds, but there are two things that all Chinese people will never forget, that is, the return of Hong Kong in 1997 and the return of Macao in 1999. The Treaty of Nanking in 1842 colonized Hong Kong, and the Sino-Portuguese Treaty of Peace and Commerce in 1877 colonized Macao.
At the end of the 20 th century, Hong Kong and Macao returned to the embrace of the motherland, marking an important step forward in the great cause of the motherland's reunification and a historic contribution made by the Communist Party of China to the Chinese nation.
However, there are a number of territories that have historically been part of the continent that have not yet been returned, such as Vladivostok, which is located in the northeast of Asia and is now part of Russia. 崴 means "wa" in Chinese, because sea cucumbers are produced here, so it is called Vladivostok.
The Chinese word for "small fishing village by the sea" is a name full of Chinese characteristics. However, it also has a name, Vladivostok, which means "to rule the East".
From the name of Vladivostok, we can also get an insight into its history. Why was it that Kowloon was ceded and Kowloon was recovered, but Vladivostok has not been recovered so far?
Historical evolution
The earliest historical records of Vladivostok belonging to China can be traced back to the Tang Dynasty, and relevant records can also be found in the later Liao, Jin, and Yuan historical materials, and the historical record of Vladivostok being ceded is also very clear.
In the Treaty of Beijing signed in 1860, more than 400,000 square kilometers of land east of the Ussuri River were ceded to Russia, and under the rule of the weak and incompetent late Qing government, China was reduced to a situation where people were swordsmen and fish and we were fish.
In order to recover Vladivostok, the mainland has also made many efforts. At the beginning of the founding of the People's Republic of China, relations with the Soviet Union were very harmonious, so the issue of territorial disputes between the two countries was temporarily shelved, and both countries devoted themselves wholeheartedly to the development of socialism.
The border negotiations between China and the Soviet Union began in February 1964 and ended in October 2004, and in the course of 40 years of negotiations, China has been committed to safeguarding its territorial integrity, but the factors involved are complicated.
However, in 1991, when the boundary between China and the Soviet Union was demarcated, Vladivostok had already become internationally recognized Russian territory. Vladivostok, which is not very large in population and area, is the capital of Primorsky Krai of Russia, and because of its special geographical location, it is of great significance to Russia. It is the most important city in the Russian Far East and the seat of the headquarters of the Pacific Fleet of the Russian Navy.
On July 2, 2020, the Russian Embassy in China posted an official Weibo: Today is the 160th anniversary of the founding of Vladivostok. The history of Vladivostok began in 1860, when the Russians established a military port here called "Vladivostok" (meaning "rule the East").
Vladivostok originally belonged to China, and this Weibo angered many Chinese netizens, Vladivostok is a territory of Russia, although it is internationally recognized, but to do so is to expose the scars of Chinese.
Practical reasons
As for what Vladivostok cannot be recovered like Kowloon, one of them is related to its unique geographical location and important military position.
Vladivostok is geographically surrounded only by China, Russia, South Korea and North Korea, which are two relatively small island countries and are not close to each other, and it is only of practical significance to China and Russia, and it is also convenient for rule and jurisdiction.
Kowloon is different, it is a British colony, thousands of miles away from the British territory, Britain wants to occupy Hong Kong for a long time, first of all, the geographical location determines its greater difficulties, and the usual management and rule often fall into the helplessness of the whip. If there is a big change in Hong Kong, Britain will not be able to save the fire from far away. If Hong Kong and Britain are also adjacent to each other, it will not be easy to recover Hong Kong.
There is another essential difference between Kowloon and Vladivostok, that is, cession and lend-lease. Although the two places were separated from China's jurisdiction by signing treaties, the content of the articles was fundamentally different.
Cession is the transfer of the land to the other party, and the ownership is no longer the right to own, and the lease is only a temporary handover of the right to use to the other party, and the ownership is still in the hands of the Chinese government. Lend-lease has a time, and as soon as the time comes, the mainland government can justifiably take it back, while the cession is indefinite.
This alone gives Russia absolute international support. Many patriots have always been reluctant to recover Vladivostok, but this cannot be blamed entirely on the current government. If you want to blame it, you will blame the weakness and incompetence of the late Qing government, which caused our land in China to be seized by foreign powers. If we fall behind, we will be beaten, and we can only never forget this bloody lesson and always strive for self-improvement in order to avoid being preyed upon by the foreign powers.
There have also been calls for the use of force to take back Vladivostok, but in view of the current international situation and the balance of strength between the two countries, this is obviously unrealistic. Weak countries have no diplomacy, this is an iron law of thousands of years of history, I have been in the strong national strength, but also expanded their territory, such as the Tang Dynasty.
The problem of Vladivostok is rather special; both in the Soviet Union and in Russia today, the overall national strength is very strong, and although China has made certain achievements in its development over the years, it is still slightly insufficient compared with the old capitalist developed countries, and this objectively determines that the use of force is an unwise move.
Self-reliance
Even if China's comprehensive national strength rises to the point where it can compete with Russia after a few years of development, China cannot use force, or to be precise, China cannot start a war in the first place.
The mainland has always emphasized taking the path of peaceful rise, and has repeatedly reiterated on various international occasions that China will never seek hegemony. Moreover, the historical relationship between China and Russia is too complicated, and if a war breaks out between the two great powers bordering each other, the consequence could be a turmoil in the world landscape. The fact that the two countries are at war is likely to give other countries that are watching the fire from across the strait an opportunity.
To sum up, judging from the current situation, it is impossible to recover Vladivostok, and the use of force is, first, there is no absolute certainty of victory, and second, it is not in line with the diplomatic strategy of the mainland's peaceful rise. If we want to resolve this issue peacefully through diplomatic means, we have no reason, because Vladivostok is different from the lease of Kowloon, it is a cession.
To this day, there are still many patriotic people who are familiar with history who look at the territories that once belonged to China on the map and feel sad, and we all know that the unequal treaties that were forced to sign were all humiliating and humiliating, but we cannot change history.
While we scold the foreign powers, we must also reflect on ourselves, the blind arrogance of the late Qing government and the serious lag in the country's development are the fundamental reasons for the loss of the country.
Not only Vladivostok, but many other places, all of which were once the territory of the mainland. On the authoritative map of the mainland's official website, some cities in Russia must be marked with the name of China: Vladivostok is Vladivostok, Ussuriysk is Shuangchengzi, Khabarovsk is Boli, Blagoveshchensk is Hailanpao, Sakhalin is Sakhalin Island, Nerchensk is Nebuchu, Nikolaevsk is Temple Street, and the Stanov Mountains are Transkhingan.
I hope that our generation and future generations will never forget the Chinese names of these cities, and one day when the country is strong and the world pattern changes again, we will regain the territory of a great Chinese country.
Brief summary:
History cannot be changed, we can only look forward, and the problem of Vladivostok is a great regret for all Chinese people. Vladivostok cannot be recovered like Kowloon for specific historical reasons, but we must not forget that it once belonged to China. Why was it that Kowloon was ceded and Kowloon was recovered, but Vladivostok has not been recovered so far? Hopefully, this question will always be asked until Vladivostok is recovered.