One Island, Two Countries: A Look At How Chinese-Russian Relations Are Playing Out In The Far East

Ekaterina Venkina

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Not too long ago, tension over possession of islands in the rivers that form the Russian-Chinese frontier led to armed confrontation. These days the same islands are declared “a place of friendship.” But those feelings of amity may not run deep.

Heixiazi, the Chinese half of a divided island at the confluence of the Ussuri and Amur rivers, looks “like Disneyland,” according to Akihiro Iwashita, a Japanese scholar who is an experton Russia’s border issues with China and Japan.

He first visited the island, known on the Russian side as Bolshoy Ussuriysky, in 2008. At that time, the Chinese had made major improvements to its side, building a large nature reserve, border defenses, including a watchtower, and a bridge from the mainland to the island, Iwashita told Eurasianet in an email interview.