Russia will pass over 300 square kilometers of land to China. An additional protocol, describing the line of the eastern part of the Russian-Chinese border, was signed in Beijing on Monday.
The document was signed by Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, who is currently in China on a working visit. “The compromise was reached through negotiations, at which the long-term aim of enhancing neighbourly relations and cooperation was the priority. We were talking not about the territories, but about making the border itself clearer,” Lavrov said during the meeting. China will receive the Tarabarov Island and part of the Bolshoi Ussuriysky Island in the Amur River. They became Soviet territory in 1929, but China continued to consider them part of its land. A deal was finally reached in 2004. The signing of the agreement is expected to give the countries, which are active trading partners, a new boost. Last year alone, trade turnover between Russia and China grew by almost 50 percent.