Sino-Soviet Territorial Disputes: Past and Present

Abstract

Three centuries of historical background as well as current developments regarding Sino-Soviet territorial issues illustrate instructively the struggle of each to dominate the other, to secure state sovereignty, and to win international ideological acceptance. Earlier controversies and disturbances between the two rising empires were checked by a long-standing balance of power. Later, Russia used encroachments, intrigues and threats to exact territory from China during periods when she was troubled internally and externally; Russia made further inroads through continued colonial exploitation. At one time both regimes apparently shared a common Communist orientation that implied a changed relationship based on trust and cooperation. However, differences in ideological interpretation and in state policies soon degenerated into a series of bloody and serious incidents. The essence of the present dispute must be studied, and can only be understood, in the light of historical perspective. It is equally as important to relate this past experience to the broad context of contemporary ideological struggle within the international Communist movement. With these premises, one must review the vast domain China possessed in the seventeenth century, the tremendous Russian territorial acquisitions at China's expense in the mid-nineteenth century, Russian colonial practices in the outlying regions of China, especially after the turn of the century, the borderland's tranquility and prosperity during the golden decade of 1949-59, and the recent armed clashes and mutual accusations. Such a historical review prompts a