As we all know, Northeast China borders Russia and North Korea, and on the side of the Sea of Japan is Russia and the Korean Peninsula, and only the mouth of the Tumen River can be used as a passage into the Sea of Japan.
With the continuous enhancement of China's national strength, our international exchanges have become more and more frequent, especially the awareness of maritime power is growing, and there is an urgent need for stable and guaranteed access to the sea.
For a long time, there have been many articles on the Internet on the issue of the mouth of the Tumen River analyzed from the perspective of history, culture, economy, etc., but no article has made it clear whether we have the mouth of the Tumen River from the legal level.
In order to solve my personal doubts, I have consulted a large number of historical and legal documents, and today @ Earl of Ivory Mountain can tell you with certainty that China has the legal right to free navigation at the mouth of the Tumen River.
The legal issues at the mouth of the Tumen River are basically sorted out and shared as follows:
In the Sino-Russian Treaty of Beijing, China lost most of its territory east of the Tumen River, but retained its coastline
On September 26, 1010, the Russian envoy Ignachev took advantage of the opportunity of the Anglo-French coalition army to capture Tianjin and Beijing, and in the name of so-called "meritorious mediation", he forced the Qing court to sign the Sino-Russian Beijing Treaty. The treaty enabled the "Treaty of Yaohun" signed between Russia and the Heilongjiang general Yishan to be confirmed by the Qing government, and turned the 400,000 square kilometers of inherent territory east of the Ussuri River in China, which was "condominiumed" by China and Russia, into Russian territory.
Article 1 of the Sino-Russian Beijing Treaty stipulates that the southeastern section of the boundary between China and Russia in the eastern section "runs from the mouth of the Bailing River to the mouth of the Hubutu River, and then from the mouth of the Hubutu River to the huchun River and the ridge in the middle of the sea to the mouth of the Tumen River, and its east belongs to Russia; its west belongs to China." The border between the two countries is no more than twenty miles away from the meeting place of the Tumen River and the mouth of the river, and the map drawn by the Parliament in accordance with article 9 of the Tianjin Peace Treaty is divided into red places of the border, and the words of the Russian state of A, Ba, Wa, Ga, Da, Yah, Re, Jie, Yi, Ka, La, Ma, Na, Wa, Na, Wa, Ya, La, Tu, and Wu are written on them for easy detail. On the "Boundary Map from the Ussuri River to the Sea" signed by Cheng Qi and Kazakevich (also translated as "Kazakvich"), it also indicates the boundary plates of the 12 Russian heads of Yay, Yi, Ka, La, Ma, Na, Wa, Pa, La, Sa, Tu, and U. Among them, the U-character sign is set on the east bank of the river mouth at the mouth of the Tumen River and on the coast of Japan, and the Hanqi coast from the east (north) bank of the lower reaches of the Tumen River to the coast of the Sea of Japan still belongs to China, and China separates Russia and Korea through the Hanqi coast. It can be seen that according to the Treaty of Beijing, the lower reaches of the Tumen River are the border between China and North Korea, and China naturally still has sovereignty over the Chinese side of the Tumen River.
Second, the "Record of the Junction of the Ussuri River to the Sea", China has lost its coastline and the mouth of the Tumen River
On May 21, 1861 (June 28, 1861), China and Russia signed the Sino-Russian Treaty on the Survey and Division of the Eastern Boundary as a supplementary provision to the Sino-Russian Treaty of Beijing. At the same time, the two countries also signed and exchanged the "Record of the Junction of the Ussuri River to the Sea" (also known as the "Record of the Junction Road between China and Russia in the Eastern Section"), and the Qing court representative Cheng Qi and others did not set foot on the border, but only drew the seal according to the map and requirements unilaterally drawn by Russia. In the "Record of the Junction of the Ussuri River to the Sea", only eight boundary plates are stipulated, and 7 boundary plates such as the word "Wu" are missing. The omission of the Wuzi sign has deprived China of its sovereignty over the Hanqi coast. Thus Russia was connected to the Korean Peninsula by the Tumen River, gained a foothold of aggression against Korea, and blocked China's passage out of the Sea of Japan through the Tumen River.
3. The "Sino-Russian Treaty on the Eastern Boundary of Hunchun" confirms, on the basis of reason, the right of Chinese ships to sail along the Tumen River
In order to try to make up for the huge problems caused by the omission of the Boundary Plates and other boundary plates after the signing of the "Sino-Russian Demarcation and Demarcation of the Eastern Boundary", as well as to solve the problem of Russia's illegal occupation of China's black tops, and at the same time correct the problem of the misplaced location of the tuzi plates and restore China's right to the sea on the Tumen River, in 1886, China and Russia held the "Iwakachi River Boundary Survey Conference" and signed the "Sino-Russian Hunchun East Boundary Treaty". This time, China and Russia re-surveyed the eastern boundary of Hunchun and delineated in detail the Sino-Russian boundary from Xingkai Lake in Jilin to the Tumen River. The Chinese side fought for the right to sail back to the Black Tops and the Tumen River, but failed to establish a U-character sign and reclaim the territory on the Hanqi coast.
On October 12, 1886, Ma Qiuning, the Russian border official in South Ussuri, sent a note to the Chinese deputy capital of Hunchun, saying, "I have received instructions from baranov, the overseer of the Coastal Oblast, that the officials of the original department should not be stopped if there are Chinese ships entering or leaving the mouth of the Tumen River." The history of this note is called "Russian Note on the Entry and Exit of Chinese Ships into and Out of the Tumen River Estuary." In the course of the Sino-Russian negotiations, upon agreement by the negotiators of the two sides, this note will be annexed to the Sino-Russian Treaty on the Eastern Boundary of Hunchun and shall have the force of law. The note reads:
Great Russian Usuli boundary Komisar notes and the great Qing state of Hunchun vice-capital
In order to take care of the governor: We are now receiving the Gubilnator Zhenwen Inner Passage in the Eastern Coast Province on the thirtieth day of this month: The order belongs to the palaces, and if there are Chinese ships entering and leaving from the Mouth of the Tumen River, they should not be hindered and other reasons, and they will come here and send this note to your vice-capital, and I wish that the two countries of our country will be reconciled with Yidun Keye.
At this point, Chinese vessels have officially restored the right to sail along the Tumen River in law, and this legal right has always been de facto exercised by our country.
In the half century since, Chinese ships have used the power of the Tumen River to trade and fish. In the early years of the Republic of China, Hunchun County had a wharf and a shipping company. Before the "918 Incident" in 1931, the number of ships operating at Hunchun Port reached 1395 per year, and at that time, the ships of China's Tuchang Shipping Company could reach Shanghai in only 4 days from the Sea of Japan.
Fourth, internal and external troubles, especially Japan's aggression, china has in fact lost the right to sail
In 1938, the "Battle of Zhanggufeng" broke out between the Soviet Union and Japan, and the Japanese army erected piles near the Fangchuan River in the lower reaches of the Tumen River to block the river, blocking the waterway and interrupting various sea activities.
After the victory of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, China was busy with infighting and did not remove the obstacles in time to restore navigation, and the pile blocking of the river accelerated the siltation of the channel, and at present, the Tumen River has been seriously silted up, the water level is very shallow, and it is impossible to navigate.
Later, the DPRK and the Soviet Union built the DPRK-Su Railway Bridge downstream, which is an 8-hole 60-meter steel frame iron bridge, and the bottom of the bridge to the normal water level is only 9.6 meters high, of which only 3 holes can be used as navigable holes. Large ships could not cross the bridge and could only navigate smaller fishing vessels, and the passage from here into the Sea of Japan was completely locked.
5. Legally reaffirm China's right to navigation on the Tumen River
On May 16, 1991, in order to clarify and determine the direction of the eastern section of the Sino-Soviet border in the agreed area, China and the Soviet Union signed the Agreement between the People's Republic of China and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics on the Eastern Section of the Sino-Soviet State Border (approved by the Standing Committee of the Seventh National People's Congress on February 25, 1992). It is provided for
Article IX
The Soviet side agreed with its interested parties that Chinese vessels (flying the Chinese flag) may sail round-trip along the Tumen River (Tumanaya River) below the 33rd boundary point referred to in Article 2 of this Agreement. Specific issues relating to this voyage will be resolved through consultations between the parties concerned.
At this point, in law, China has reconfirmed the right of Chinese ships to go to sea determined on the Tumen River.
Some people hold that China and Russia have reached an agreement on the issue of the lower reaches of the Tumen River on the issue of the sea outlet of the lower reaches of the Tumen River based on a historical treaty, but the DPRK side can hold views and positions different from China's views and positions on this issue, and can advocate that the discussion or agreement between China and Russia on the issue of the sea right to the Tumen River must be recognized and understood by the DPRK side. However, based on the historical border situation between China, Russia and the DPRK, and after the boundary between the Tumen River between China and Russia was determined, China has long determined and actually exercised the right of navigation on the Tumen River, and the DPRK has not raised any objections. Personally, I believe that the DPRK has no right to question or obstruct this historical right of our country at present.
Subsequently, on October 14, 2004, China and Russia signed the "Supplementary Agreement between the People's Republic of China and the Russian Federation on the Eastern Section of the Sino-Russian Boundary", based on the "Agreement between China and the Soviet Union on the Eastern Section of the State Border" signed by China and Russia in 1991, which clarified the issue of the ownership of the Black Blind Island, Zhenbao Island and the Abagay Tuzhouzhu area that have been disputed for a long time between the two countries.
Sixth, follow-up questions
1. In the 1990s, China once organized a scientific expedition on the Tumen River, which is the only information I found on the Internet to re-exercise the navigation right of the Tumen River. In order to do a good job in this scientific expedition, the "Reply of the State Council on the Scientific Investigation of the Lower Reaches of the Tumen River and the Sea of Japan" is clearly defined: "I agree that your province (Jilin Province) and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs will negotiate and revise the plan for scientific investigation of the lower reaches of the Tumen River, and the inspection period will be two weeks, and five ships will conduct scientific investigations on the lower reaches of the Tumen River, without landing in the Soviet Union, facing the shore, and not drilling." The content of the inspection shall be negotiated specifically by your province and the relevant departments. In order to find out the situation of the riverbed and shoals, measurement points can be set up on the side of the Soviet Union and the DPRK on the premise of obtaining the consent of the Soviet and Dprk sides in advance. ”
2. Russia is sensitive to the fishing voyages of our vessels in the Sea of Japan. According to public news resources around 2011 and 2012, many Chinese fishing boats have been hunted down and detained by Russian border guards for illegal fishing in the Russian exclusive economic zone in the Sea of Japan. In the future, when Chinese ships enter the Sea of Japan through the Tumen River, they will inevitably pass through the territorial waters of North Korea or Russia and the exclusive economic zone, and the three countries should also be clear about this and guarantee the navigation rights of Our ships in the Sea of Japan.
3. News such as the upgrading of the Russian-Dprk Bridge and the establishment of a Far East Free Port at the mouth of the Tumen River often appear, but there is no actual resource to confirm it.