Taiwan’s President Lai Sparks Global Interest: How a Century-Old China-Russia Border Dispute Became a Strategic Play
2024/9/3 10:47
(Updated 9/3 at 17:23)
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President Lai Challenges China’s Claim of Sovereignty Over Taiwan
(Central News Agency, Taipei, Comprehensive Foreign News Report on the 3rd) In an exclusive interview, President Lai Ching-te challenged Beijing’s claim of sovereignty over Taiwan and questioned China’s position on the so-called maintenance of territorial integrity.
President Lai said that if China is really concerned about this, it should also try to reclaim the land given to Russia in the 19th century.
President Lai, who has completed his 100th day in office, recently mentioned this issue in an exclusive interview with TV host Zhang Yaqin on ”Yaqin Seizes the World,” which has become the focus of foreign media. Along with Reuters, Germany’s “Die Zeit” (Die Zeit), Britain’s “Guardian”, USA’s “Newsweek” (Newsweek) etc. reported with this title.
Treaty of Aihun
Treaty of Aihun
In 1858, Russia took advantage of the invasion of British and French forces and entered into an unequal treaty with the Qing dynasty. The treaty ceded more than 600,000 square kilometers of territory north of Heilongjiang to Russia, the largest loss of territory in Chinese history.
The main points are as follows: 1. Areas south of the Outer Jing’an Mountains and north of Heilongjiang will be ceded to Russia. 2. The area east of the Ussuri River is jointly administered by China and Russia. 3. Allow Russia to navigate the Heilongjiang and Ussuri rivers.
Those lands are signed.”
President Lai said: ”You, China, can ask Russia for the Treaty of Aihun signed during the Qing Dynasty, but you do not have it, so it is clear that it is not because of regional relations that it wants to attack Taiwan.”
President Lai also said that China’s aggression in Taiwan is aimed at changing the “rules-based world order” and “achieving its hegemony” in the Western Pacific or internationally.
The Guardian reported that Taiwan, located at the core of the first island chain in the Pacific Ocean, would allow the CCP to effectively control key strongholds in the region and increase its control over the Taiwan Strait.
Newsweek reported that China’s past concessions to Russia in recent years have become a point of contention among some nationalists who believe Moscow should return territories lost to China, including Vladivostok, the largest city in the Russian Far East.
Instead of emphasizing the Beijing-Moscow relationship as an alternative to the US-led Western alliance, the Chinese government has remained silent on the issue.
In 2023, China’s Ministry of Natural Resources issued regulations on map content, which required that eight place names on the Sino-Russian border should have old Chinese names previously known to the public, in addition to current geographical names with Russian pronunciation. Added, like “Fu” ”Radivostok” and “Vladivostok” etc.
The new version of the map released by China also includes Heixiaji Island, which lies at the northeastern junction of China and Russia and was previously agreed to be divided between China and Russia.