Territorial questions of the PRC

Tibet

According to the Chinese side, Tibet has always been a part of China; according to the Tibetan separatist point of view, Tibet has always been an independent state and was not part of China ^[1] . Considering the Mongol empire Yuan and the Manchu empire of Qing China, Beijing claims that from the middle of the 13th century Tibet officially entered the state territory of the Yuan Empire and since then, despite the fact that several dynasties and central governments changed in China, it was invariably under central government of China ^[2] . In the 1950s, Tibet was incorporated into the PRC. (See also en: Invasion of Tibet (1950–1951) ) In order to escape from repression, many Tibetans, led by Dalai Lama XIV, emigrated, mainly to India. Under the leadership of the Dalai Lama, the Tibetan government in exile ^[3] was created, which is the legitimate successor to the government of Tibet, which had previously operated in Lhasa.

East Turkestan

About two thousand years ago, East Turkestan was part of China, then was independent, was part of the Mongolian empire of Chinggis Khan and the state of his successors. After the campaigns, Ban Chao , and in the XVIII century, was annexed to the Manchu Qing Empire. Since then, it is called Xinjiang (“new territory”, or “new frontier”). At present, there are nationalist movements of the Uighurs based abroad in China, which propagate the idea of ​​independent East Turkestan . Their main goal is the formation of an independent state of East Turkestan. The most active political grouping among them is the World Uyghur Congress , headed by Rabiyoy Kadir and actively supported by some human rights organizations. The main goal of the WUC is to promote the rights of the Uyghur people to self-determination, using peaceful, non-violent and democratic methods in establishing the political future of East Turkestan ^[4] .

Inner Mongolia

At the sunset of the Qing Empire, one of the parts of which was China, its Manchu rulers began to settle the territory of Mongolia by the Chinese, whose rulers recognized the sovereignty of the Manchu emperors over themselves. Inner Mongolia has undergone the earliest and most intense whaling. After the collapse of the Qing Empire, there was a movement against the power of the Republic of China - the nation state of the Chinese. However, due to the inequality of power and support of China by foreign imperialists, this movement was suppressed. Later, after the liberation of Inner Mongolia from the Japanese invaders by the troops of the USSR and Mongolia, the territory was recognized as Chinese. Then Mao Zedong annexed a number of lands, mainly inhabited by the Mongols, to the neighboring Chinese provinces, and to Inner Mongolia, he added regions, mostly inhabited by the Chinese. Now the independence movement is weak there: the Mongols in Inner Mongolia are only approx. 18 %. The most famous organization is the People’s Party of Inner Mongolia ^[5] .

The PRC claims sovereignty over the island of Taiwan ( Kit. 台湾 ) and several adjacent islands. After the victory of the communists in the civil war , thanks to the support of the USSR, the Kuomintang government of the Republic of China led by Chiang Kai-shek retreated to the island. Initially neutral to Taiwan, the position of the United States of America changed dramatically after China intervened in the Korean war on the side of the DPRK , where the United States acted on the basis of a UN Security Council resolution . The US response led to the fact that it was impossible for the People's Republic of China to seize Taiwan. The PRC considers Taiwan and the adjacent islands as part of a single and indivisible Chinese state. The leadership of the Republic of China (Taiwan) also claims sovereignty over the entire territory of China , although recently there has been a growing movement to declare Taiwan a separate state. Taiwan was the official representative of China to the UN until 1971.

In the late 1970s, using exacerbation of relations between the USSR and the USA because of the entry of Soviet troops into Afghanistan , Beijing established diplomatic relations with the United States (which for the sake of this broke off official relations with Taiwan, although they continued to provide economic and military assistance).

In 1992, the Chinese leadership, after establishing relations with the United States and embarking on the path of market reforms, began negotiations with Taiwan on peaceful reunification. But on July 11, 1999, they were interrupted after Taiwan President Lee Denghui announced that the PRC and Taiwan are "two countries on both sides of the Taiwan Strait."

In 2000 , Chen Shui-bien became president of Taiwan, proposing to hold a referendum on the independence of the island. After that, the Chinese leadership, fearing this, began to call for an early resolution of the Taiwanese problem more and more insistently.

On March 14, 2005, the All-China Assembly of People’s Representatives (NPC) approved the law “On Countering the Split of the Country”. This document provides for the right of the PRC government to apply “non-peaceful or other necessary measures to protect its sovereignty and territorial integrity ” in the event of an attempt by “subversive elements advocating Taiwan independence” to separate the island “from the Motherland”, or in the case of “important changes that can lead to the separation of Taiwan from the country, or if all the conditions for peaceful unification are exhausted. ”

The adopted document, which legally establishes the possibility of using force to prevent the island from proclaiming independence, is regarded by observers as an attempt to increase the psychological pressure on Taiwan and to incline him to negotiate a peaceful reunion on Beijing terms.

The United States could not fail to respond, since the law adopted by the People's Republic of China directly contradicts the American law on Taiwan Security, which states that the use of force is unacceptable in order to solve the problem of China’s unity. The reaction of the United States, of course, was negative, because under this law, the United States has an obligation to Taiwan to protect it in the event of aggression . In late February 2005, foreseeing the adoption of this law in the People's Republic of China, the United States persuaded Japan to include Taiwan in the zone of common strategic interests of the two countries, which also belong to a bilateral defense alliance. Now, US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said that the adopted law "will increase tensions in the region." She was joined by Japan , which expressed “serious concern” with the adopted law.

In response, PRC Prime Minister Wen Jiabao called on the United States and Japan to refrain from "direct or indirect" intervention in the Taiwan problem, which is an "internal affair" of China. President Hu Jintao called on the army to prepare for war to defend the territorial integrity of China. Meanwhile, the NPC approved a new defense budget for 2005, an increase of 12.6% over last year’s figure (to 247.7 billion yuan - $ 30 billion).

At the same time, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation expressed “an understanding of the motives” of the adoption of this law. According to Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman A. Yakovenko, “we believe that there is only one China in the world, of which Taiwan is an integral part. Proceeding from this, we oppose independence of Taiwan in any form, do not accept the concepts of "two Chinas" or "one China and one Taiwan". "

According to the agreement concluded with Great Britain in 1989 , Hong Kong ( Hong Kong ) came under the control of the PRC as a special administrative region on June 1, 1997 .

The Sino-Indian border issue has a long history. However, it does not make any sense to consider periods of contact before the Qing era, since there was no direct contact between two major political entities, and therefore the frontier of India and China, since China was only one part of the Qing Empire. Natural barriers and mountain buffer states divided the two worlds, between which, for all that, cultural, religious and trade exchanges took place. During the existence of the Mughal Empire in India , this situation continued. The Mughal Empire fought with Ladakh , and the Qing Empire with Nepal . The question of the border did not interest anyone since the intermediate mountainous areas were of no value to both countries at that time. These questions arose only when the Great Mogul Empire seized the British Empire . So, these issues should be perceived directly as Qing-British, then transformed into Chinese-Indian due to the fact that China claimed rights to Tibet and Eastern Turkestan, which were part of the disintegrated Qing Empire (but not China).

The first meeting of the Qing and British Empire was the arrival of the English merchant ship at the international port of Guangzhou opened for trade in 1711 . In 1757, when the Qing Empire decided because of the problems that had befallen the Great Mughal Empire, to isolate themselves from harmful external influences, Guangzhou remained the only international port open to free trade. The East Indian company was allowed to continue purchasing tea there in exchange for silver. However, foreigners were not allowed to settle there.

Qing-British relations began with the embassy of George McArtney , sent in 1792 to establish diplomatic relations and obtain trade preferences . Emperor Qianlong , aware of the situation in India , perceived him deliberately humiliating. The claim by some historians that this was caused by a lack of understanding of the power of the country before him is implausible. Manchu emperors have always been very knowledgeable about the situation in other countries. What is clear from their actions on the threshold of the signing of the Nerchinsk and Kyakhta treaties, for example. However, they were well informed about what they received in response to the benevolent attitude of the Mughal empire and the Maratha confederation .

On the territory of the Qing already existed a Portuguese settlement - Macau, which emerged as early as 1535 in the era of Min, but at that time was not a classical colony. Its inhabitants, for example, were subject to Chinese law. Geographically, Macao belonged to China, and foreigners living there paid the same tribute as any Chinese people. In particular, in 1557 it was 500 lyanov silver. Empire troops were also present there. All the associations of the Portuguese were purely informal in nature, and although Portugal appointed there captains-majors, and from 1623 “governors”, they were called only in Portugal as such - in reality, they were not such before the Nanking Treaty and their function was so that, as heads of a trading post, they assist the Chinese authorities by serving as translators and assistants. Trade through this port continued during the closed period of China. This state of affairs suited everyone mutually. But the British were aware that they wanted more.

However, despite the emperor’s excellent knowledge, the Qing empire was undermined by internal problems — the domination and rebellion of various sects, the riots of the poor seized by officials beyond measure, which gained the power of the cult of “life for pleasure” to the similar modern “take everything from life”. This led to an increase in drug addiction which was actively supported by a huge supply of drugs from the British Empire. Deliveries were absolutely illegal, but local officials in coastal cities were corrupt, and, despite the ban, trade was very active. In 1802, the British Empire, aware of the indecisiveness of Emperor Jiacin, even went to the purely gangster clashes in Macau, fitting the squadron directly to the Chinese city of Macao at that time. At that time, the process of internal degradation was not yet so strong, and the Qing Empire sent its troops to its borders. Realizing that despite the statements of the Portuguese in Europe that they have their own governor in Macao, in reality this “governor” is not recognized as such by anyone and acts in the Qing Empire as the head of a trading station, and the war with her will be lost, the British squadron moved away from Macau. But here an inexplicable common sense event occurred. The emperor signed an agreement with the Portuguese factor that allowed the stay of the Portuguese troops in Macau since 1803. This was the beginning of the fall of the empire.

In 1808, piracy was launched against the Portuguese and American merchant ships off the coast of the Qing Empire. Several incidents occurred, including the landing of a military landing force on the territory of the Qing Empire. But Emperor Jiaqing, instead of destroying the aggressor, merely prohibited the troops who invaded its territory from trading with the East Indian Company and forbade the governor Liangguan to simply execute these troops as criminals.

Further, the emperor concluded a series of strange treaties with the East-Indian company representing the British Empire. All the actions taken by this emperor contributed to such an increase in drug trafficking and the involvement of the population in drug use, that the question of turning China into a colony became purely a matter of several years. All the behavior of this ruler speaks of his mental illness, and 21 years of his reign virtually destroyed the once powerful empire from the inside.

The emperor Daoguang who succeeded him tried to save the empire, but the degree of decomposition was already so great that, despite the fact that he immediately sent troops to Guangzhou and tried to ban any trade with the East India Company, that is, with Britain, his officials did not support him, and he was forced to leave the trade and try to fight the drug trade, creating the Coast Guard. However, as history has shown, it was already too late. A fifth of the population was drug addicts, almost all officials were corrupt. Morality and morality were at a very low level. The British strenuously planted the lowest vices. Governors of the provinces began to seek independence from the center. And the Kokand Khanate raised the Uygur to war, providing active financial and technical support to the fighters for independence. Finally, in 1838, it was necessary to convene all representatives of the governors, and during the survey, it turned out that 20 dignitaries (7 Chinese and 13 Manchus) supported the legalization of drugs and only 8 (6 Chinese and 2 Manchuria) were in favor of toughening the struggle.

But then Lin Zesyuy spoke, outlining the tragedy of the situation and the disintegration of society and demanding the execution of all for the drug trade and the introduction of military rule in the country. At first, Daoguang did not file the form, but after a few days, Lin Zeyusei received unlimited powers and still combat-ready troops. They began to vigorously fight the drug trade. Trying to appeal to the conscience of the rulers of the British Empire, he even wrote a letter to Queen Victoria. In response, the British Empire responded with the First Opium War. Because of the corruption of generals and governors, as well as many other army officials, the war was lost. The British empire forced China to sign the predatory Nanking treaty .

In turn, on the northeastern part of the Indian-Chinese border there is a large part of the territories, the question of ownership of which has not yet been settled by the Indian and Chinese sides. India’s position on this issue does not differ from the decisions that were made at the Anglo-Tibeto-Chinese conference in Simla in 1913-1914, when, in accordance with England’s proposals, the eastern section of the border between India and Tibet was established along the so-called McMahon line. . According to T.L. Shaumyan, the interrelation and interdependence of the border-territorial and Tibetan problems in the Indo-Chinese relations stem from here [19, p. 58]. At the same time, the Chinese side has repeatedly declared the conference’s illegitimacy and the non-recognition of the McMahon line as a state border in the Indian sector, since “in Simla questions about the Indian-Chinese border were not considered” [12, p. 320]. Among other things, China from the late 1950s. challenged the ownership of a number of areas that were part of the Northeast Frontier Agency. December 30, 1964 Chinese Prime Minister Zhou Enlai made a statement in which he warned India that China had never renounced its sovereignty over 90 thousand km ² of territory located south of the McMahon line [4, p. 228]. China still adheres to this position. In 1972, the Northeast Frontier Agency was renamed Arunachal Pradesh, but until 1979 this territory remained a federal territory, which was under the direct control of Delhi. In 1986, it became the 24th state of India - Arunachal Pradesh. This led to an aggravation of the situation on the border of the PRC of China and Arunachal Pradesh. In 1986-1987. in the Samdurong Chu valley, both sides carried out military maneuvers and accused each other of seizing foreign territories. At the same time, India was conducting similar maneuvers on the India-Pakistan line of actual control in Kashmir. On April 27, 1988, the press secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the PRC declared: “The Chinese government has repeatedly stated that it absolutely does not recognize the illegal line of McMahon and also does not recognize the so-called Arunachal Pradesh State.” But China wishes through peaceful consultations on the basis of the principle of mutual understanding and mutual concessions to resolve the Sino-Indian border issue fairly and rationally. ”

In April 2005, during a visit to India by Premier Wen Jiabao following his talks with Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, the sides announced the establishment of a “strategic partnership” between the countries.

In order to solve the problems as soon as possible, India and China expressed their readiness to review their positions, and as the first concession, the PRC first recognized Sikkim as part of India (the kingdom of Sikkim was annexed to India in 1975 , but the PRC still considered it an independent state).

China shares a 470 km long border with Bhutan and territorial disputes are a source of potential conflicts. Since the 1980s, these governments have been regularly negotiating border and security issues aimed at reducing tensions.

Kazakhstan

The presence of non-delimited sections of the border, disputed territories, and the lack of a corresponding legal framework between China and the new post-Soviet states caused Beijing to feel justified in this situation in the early 1990s. In addition to the fact that this could lead to the emergence of border conflicts, the current situation significantly impeded the formation of the foundations of good neighborly bilateral relations. But at the same time, the PRC was also present with a desire to take advantage of the favorable situation that arose after the collapse of the USSR in order to achieve maximum benefit for themselves in resolving border and territorial disputes. Almost immediately after the collapse of the USSR, China was one of the first to announce the recognition of new Central Asian states and established diplomatic relations with them in early 1992. At the same time, Beijing set a course for the quickest resolution of problematic issues with them.

First of all, China immediately launched an initiative to resume negotiations on border and territorial issues that had begun during the period of the Soviet Union. It was obvious to the Chinese leadership that the fundamental bases of security, integrity and inviolability of the PRC territory will be ensured only when the state borders of China with Russia and with each of the Central Asian countries are finally defined, clearly marked and agreed.

Already in the first half of 1992, China initiated bilateral consultations with Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan (Tajikistan, due to the start of internal armed confrontation, practically drops out of the negotiation process) along the border line and disputed territories. In parallel, Beijing agreed with Moscow’s proposal to negotiate border issues in a multilateral format. In September 1992, a working group was formed in Minsk (Belarus) consisting of a joint delegation of Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and the delegation of China (the so-called “4 + 1 formula”).

For all the newly independent states of Central Asia, which, on the basis of succession, were to conduct border negotiations with China, but did not have the archives, legal, methodological, historical and other documents necessary for this, this format was a crucial condition. The format of the “joint delegation” allowed Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan and Tajikistan to receive from the Russian Foreign Ministry the necessary documents, the relevant protocols of the Soviet-Chinese negotiations, and in general political support from Russia. In the course of further consultations, the earlier reached agreements between the USSR and the PRC on the border issue were confirmed. Subsequently, China recorded with each of the countries this provision in bilateral agreements.

The first of the Central Asian states, with which Beijing managed to resolve the border and territorial problems as a whole, was Kazakhstan , which has the longest border with China - about 1,740 km. On April 26, 1994, the PRC and Kazakhstan signed an agreement “On the Kazakh-Chinese state border,” which defined the border line along its entire length, with the exception of two sections - in the area of ​​the Sary-Cheldy river (former Almaty region ) and Chagan passes Obo and Baymurza (formerly Semipalatinsk region) ^[6] . The dispute was about 944 km² of Kazakhstani territory.

On September 24, 1997 and July 4, 1998, two additional border agreements were signed, ^[7] and in March 1999 the Parliament of Kazakhstan ratified them ^{[8] [9]} . Thus, the delimitation process was completed. In accordance with the agreements, 407 km² of the disputed territory were ceded to China, and 537 km² remained from Kazakhstan.

Kirghizia

The Sino-Kyrgyz border issue has a long history. However, for a long time, the Kyrgyz statehood on border issues with China did not have any legal registration. The first documentary evidence on these territories refers to 1710 and the Kokand Khanate. However, it was also an occupational, in relation to the Kyrgyz population, Uzbek state education.

Russia

The border relations between Russia and China are fully settled after the transfer of territories with a total area of ​​337 km² to China in 2005.

Tajikistan

After the founding of Tajikistan in 1992 as a result of the collapse of the USSR, the PRC declared the need to sign a new border treaty and revise some demarcation lines. In May 2004, in accordance with the agreement signed by the governments of China and Tajikistan, the first checkpoint on the Chinese-Tajik border, the Karasu checkpoint, opened. On January 12, 2011, the Parliament of Tajikistan voted to transfer to China thousands of square kilometers of disputed territories in the Pamir Mountains . On October 6, 2011, the process of transferring the Tajik territory to the jurisdiction of China was 1,158 km², which accounted for 5.5% of all disputed territories.

The Portuguese colony of Macau (Macau) came under the control of the PRC, as a special administrative region, in 1999 .

Regional conflict in the South China Sea (UCM), to the water area of ​​which China, the Philippines, Malaysia, Brunei, Vietnam and Taiwan claim to varying degrees.

Philippines

Until 2014, the Philippines already conducted oil and gas production at sites located around Palawan Island, in the Sulu Sea, and also near Reed Bank (Reed Bank) in the SKM, but froze it after filing a lawsuit in the Hague Court of Arbitration to challenge China’s territorial claims on these areas.

In 2016, the court in The Hague satisfied the Manila lawsuit, thereby rejecting Beijing’s claims, which de facto controls about 80% of the SCM water area. But China did not recognize the jurisdiction of the Hague judicial instance (this is supported by Russia, which in solidarity held joint military maneuvers with China in September 2016 in the SCM, in the scenario of which the experts saw the development of joint combat operations against the US Navy) and claims remained. In 2017, the situation escalated, due to Manila's intentions to resume production on the disputed shelf.

Senkaku Archipelago

There are territorial disputes between the PRC and Japan regarding the uninhabited Senkaku archipelago (the Chinese name is Diaoyu) in the East China Sea , which Japan actually owns at present.

At one time they belonged to China, but after Japan conquered the island of Taiwan in 1895, they were included along with Okinawa in Japan. In 1945, Japan lost all the territories it acquired from the end of the 19th century. Senkaku (Diaoyu) along with Okinawa came under US jurisdiction . But in the early 1970s, the United States returned Okinawa to Japan, giving it and Senkaku (Diaoyu).

China does not agree with this decision and in 1992 declared this territory "originally Chinese." Interest in the archipelago increased after in 1999 there were discovered significant reserves of natural gas , estimated at approximately 200 billion cubic meters.

In 2003, the Chinese installed an offshore platform near the sea’s border with Japanese waters and began drilling. The Japanese side expressed concern that the PRC might start gas production from deposits extending under Japanese territory.

In October 2004, the first round of consultations on the problem of the gas field at Senkaku took place, during which the parties agreed to resolve all issues exclusively through negotiations, without resorting to the use of force. At the same time, China rejected the demands of the Japanese side to acquaint it with the plans of the PRC for drilling and gas production at Senkaku.

In April 2005, the Japanese government decided to proceed with the consideration of applications from Japanese firms for the issuance of licenses for gas production on the archipelago shelf. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the People’s Republic of China characterized this decision as “one-sided and provocative”, stating that Japanese firms cannot carry out work in the territory which the PRC considers its own.

In June 2005, the second round of the Sino-Japanese consultations took place. They brought no results. China refused to stop gas production from the shelf on the border between Chinese and Japanese waters and again rejected the request of the Japanese side to provide it with information about the work on the shelf. The Chinese Foreign Ministry said that China has the “sovereign right” to produce gas in “waters close to the coast of the People’s Republic of China” and which are not “subject to a dispute with Japan.”

The parties agreed to continue negotiations. Japan agreed to consider a Chinese proposal for joint development of the field.

On September 16, 2012, relations between China and Japan became aggravated after mass protests began in China against the "nationalization" of islands by Japan, which the PRC considers to be its territory. Anti-Japanese demonstrations involving several thousand people covered Shanghai, Guangzhou, Qingdao and Chengdu.

Later, a thousand Chinese fishing vessels are sent to Japan-controlled Senkaku Islands ^[10] . On the same day, the Chinese Foreign Ministry announced that the Chinese government is ready to submit part of the documents on the outer limit of the continental shelf outside the 200-mile maritime zone in the East China Sea to the UN Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf, established on the basis of the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea.

Currently, territorial disputes over the right to possession of the above region are not resolved. Military provocations occur periodically from both the PRC and Japan.

• Separatism in China
• Chinese threat

• Manila is entering into a territorial conflict with Beijing. The situation in the South China Sea goes into an aggravation stage // NG , 07.21.2017