Territorial dispute between China and Russia risks clouding friendly future
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Loading... - Brandon Stevens
- 21 Mar 2023
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Despite the public image of cordiality presented by China and Russia, some observers suggest the friendship is on fragile foundations. Xi Jinping is visiting Moscow this week in a show of solidarity with Vladimir Putin. However, a background dispute over territory in east Siberia could dangerously undo the comprehensive strategic partnership.
On 14 February, the Chinese Ministry of Natural Resources (CMNR) issued a decree on the use of names on international maps. Some cities in Russia, the decree rules, must now carry Chinese names, replacing their Russian ones.
According to the 10-page document, maps covering Russia's east Siberia must carry the original Chinese names of eight large cities.
The best known, Vladivostok, the administrative capital of the region, is now to be officially called "Haishenwai".
A rocky relationship
On the eve of the Xi visit to Moscow, Russian President Vladimir Putin published a long letter eulogising the "partnership" between Moscow and Beijing, which, he says, "has always been built on mutual trust, respect for each other's sovereignty and interests." But does this reflect reality.?
"Today, Beijing emphasises that this relationship is one with no limits, that they've always been friends," Michael Dillon, a scholar with the Lao China Institute of King's College in London told RFI.
"But if you look back at the relationship, it was never very easy." He points to Mao Zedong's difficult relationship with Stalin, the Sino-Soviet rift in the 1960s, which resulted in a border war in which "Chinese and Russian lives were lost." Read More…
