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Treaty of Aigun

Changes to the China–Russia border in the 19th century. Territory ceded to Russia in the Treaty of Aigun is shown in yellow.
Signed	May 28, 1858
Location	Aigun, Manchuria, China
Signatories	Yishan Nikolay Muravyov
Parties	China Russia
Language	Russian, Manchu, Mongolian

The Treaty of Aigun was an 1858 treaty between the Russian Empire and Yishan, official of the Qing dynasty of China. It established much of the modern border between the Russian Far East and China by ceding much of Manchuria (the ancestral homeland of the Manchu people), now known as Northeast China. Negotiations began after China was threatened with war on a second front by Governor-General of the Far East Nikolay Muraviev when China was suppressing the Taiping Rebellion. It reversed the Treaty of Nerchinsk (1689) by transferring the land between the Stanovoy Range and the Amur River from the Qing dynasty to the Russian Empire. Russia received over 600,000 square kilometers (231,660 sq mi) of what became known as Outer Manchuria. While the Qing government initially refused to recognize the validity of the treaty, the Russian gains under the Treaty of Aigun were affirmed as part of the 1860 Sino-Russian Convention of Peking.

Background

Since the reign of Catherine the Great (1762–1796), Russian emperors had desired to make Russia a naval power in the Pacific. They gradually achieved their goals by annexing the Kamchatka Peninsula and establishing the naval outpost of Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky in 1740, naval outposts in Russian America and near the Amur watershed, encouraging Russians to go there and settle, and slowly developing a strong military presence in the Amur region.

From 1850 to 1864, when China was heavily involved in suppressing the Taiping Rebellion, and Governor-General of the Far East Nikolay Muraviev camped tens of thousands of troops on the borders of Mongolia and Manchuria, preparing to make legal Russian de facto control over the Amur from past settlement. Muraviev seized the opportunity when it was clear that China was losing the Second Opium War, and threatened China with a war on a second front. The Qing dynasty agreed to enter negotiations with Russia.

Signing

The Russian general Muraviev and the Qing official Yishan, both military governors of the area, signed the treaty on May 28, 1858, in the town of Aigun. The Qing government initially refused to ratify the treaty and considered the treaty invalid, but in 1860 the Sino-Russian Convention of Peking affirmed Russian gains under the Treaty of Aigun and also ceded Primorye and the Ussuri region to the Russians.

Effects

The resulting treaty established a border between the Russian and Chinese Empires along the Amur River. (Chinese and Manchu residents of the Sixty-Four Villages East of the River would be allowed to remain, under the jurisdiction of Manchu government.) The Amur, Sungari, and Ussuri rivers were to be open exclusively to both Chinese and Russian ships. The territory bounded on the west by the Ussuri, on the north by the Amur, and on the east and south by the Sea of Japan was to be jointly administered by Russia and China—a "condominium" arrangement similar to that which the British and Americans had agreed upon for the Oregon Territory in the Treaty of 1818. (Russia gained sole control of this land two years later.)

1. The inhabitants along the Amur, Sungari, and Ussuri rivers were to be allowed to trade with each other.
2. The Russians would retain Russian and Manchu copies of the text, and the Chinese would retain Manchu and Mongolian copies of the text.
3. All restrictions on trade to be lifted along the border.

Perception in China

In China, especially after the rise of Chinese nationalism in the 1920s, the treaty has been denounced as an unequal treaty.

In September 2024, the President of the Republic of China (Taiwan) Lai Ching-te claimed that if China's claims on Taiwan are about territorial integrity then it should also take back land from Russia signed over by the last Chinese dynasty in the 19th century, mentioning the treaty.

References

1. "Russia and China end 300 year old border dispute". BBC News. November 10, 1997. Retrieved August 14, 2010.
2. ^ Paine, SCM (2003). The Sino-Japanese War of 1894–1895: perceptions, power, and primacy. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-81714-1.
3. ^ Tzhou, Byron N (1990). China and international law: the boundary disputes. Greenwood Publishing Group. p. 47. ISBN 978-0-275-93462-0.
4. ^ Elleman, Bruce (2019). International Rivalry and Secret Diplomacy in East Asia, 1896-1950. Taylor & Francis. p. 19. ISBN 9781317328155.
5. ^ Riasanovsky 2000, p. 390.
6. Bissinger, Sally (June 26, 1969). "The Sino-Soviet Border Talks". Radio Liberty research bulletin. Archived from the original on February 26, 2012. Retrieved August 14, 2010.
7. "Treaty of Aigun". Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved May 12, 2021.
8. Blanchard, Ben (September 2, 2024). "If China wants Taiwan it should also take back land from Russia, president says". Reuters. Retrieved September 23, 2024.

Bibliography

• Riasanovsky, Nicholas (2000). A History of Russia (6th ed.). Oxford, England: Oxford UP. ISBN 978-0-19-503361-8.

See also

• Convention of Peking
• Amur Annexation
• Outer Manchuria
• Sino-Russian border conflicts
• Unequal Treaties
• Western imperialism in Asia

• Unequal treaties
• History of Manchuria
• 19th century in the Russian Empire
• Treaties involving territorial changes
• 1858 in China
• China–Russia treaties
• Boundary treaties
• China–Russia border
• 1858 treaties
• Treaties of the Russian Empire
• Treaties of the Qing dynasty
• May 1858 events
• China–Russian Empire relations