Kremlin Silent on Chinese Map Claiming Part of Russia's Territory

The Kremlin had not commented as of Thursday on a new map that shows disputed territory as being within China's borders, including Bolshoi Ussuriysky Island, which is shared by China and Russia.

Malaysia, the Philippines, India and Taiwan have all complained about the map, published by China's Ministry of Natural Resources. The map lays claim to land on China's border with India, all of Taiwan, and islands, reefs and maritime zones in the South China Sea, which are contested by half a dozen countries.

"This map is compiled based on the drawing method of national boundaries of China and various countries in the world," Chinese government mouthpiece Global Times wrote next to an image of the map that it posted on social media site X, formerly Twitter.

Russian media outlets noted that the map also includes Bolshoi Ussuriysky Island, which has been shared between China and Russia after an agreement signed in 2004 and finalized in 2008 that followed more than a century of dispute.

Some Russian media outlets have noted that Moscow had not yet commented on this.

Newsweek has contacted the Kremlin by email for comment on the map.

Steve Tsang, director of the China Institute at London's School of Oriental and Africa Studies, told Newsweek the Kremlin's silence so far "reflects the priority Putin's administration puts on the strategic partnership" with China.

It also shows "the weakened position" of Moscow regarding Beijing "particularly since the problematic Russian invasion of Ukraine."

China is officially neutral on Putin's full-scale invasion of Ukraine that resulted in sanctions being imposed on Russia, which in turn has become more reliant on its economic ties with Beijing.

The map could pose a tricky diplomatic hurdle. President Vladimir Putin, who signed the agreement regarding Bolshoi Ussuriysky in 2008, announced a "new era" in relations between the countries during a visit by Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping to Moscow in March.

"I don't think Russian silence means Russian acceptance of the Chinese claim. Just not contesting it at the detriment of the strategic partnership for now," Tsang said.

The Convention of Peking stipulated in 1860 that the boundary between China and Russia was along the Amur and Ussuri rivers, at whose confluence lies Bolshoi Ussuriyskiy. In 1929, the Soviet Union occupied it, as well as the neighboring Yinlong Islands, which was not accepted by China.

In 2008, Russia and China enacted the agreement which gave to Beijing around 68 square miles of territory, which is largely uninhabited.

Tsang said that China generally lays claim to disputed territories that it has claimed since the 1950s.

"It has seldom if ever added new ones to the list though this is an option that it has never ruled out," he told Newsweek.

"The big example is what today is called the Russian Far East, which was part of the Qing Empire until 1860," he said. "This being the case, apart from those disputed territories and waters being listed in the map, I don't expect Beijing to lay fresh claims in the foreseeable future."

In May, Russian opposition politician Garry Kasparov told Newsweek he expected China to make greater claims on Russian territory in future, especially if, as he has predicted, there is a collapse of Russia that Beijing can exploit.

He said that Xi might seek to redress the outcomes of historical treaties signed "when China was weak and Russia, as every other imperial power, tried to carve out pieces of China."

"China has substantial territorial claims to Russia," from Vladivostok to Lake Baikal, said Kasparov, who seeks Putin's overthrow, adding that the Chinese media "openly talks about restoring historical justice and returning what was China."