Chinese President Xi Jinping on Tuesday visited Heixiazi Island on the Sino-Russian border, a move analysts said shows Beijing's willingness to strengthen Sino-Russian economic ties and resolve border disputes through peaceful negotiation.
Xi visited the island and inspected the overall planning for environmental protection as well as opening-up and development during an inspection tour to Northeast China's Heilongjiang Province that started on Monday, the Xinhua News Agency reported Wednesday.
The trip marks the first time a Chinese president has visited Heixiazi Island since it was divided between China and Russia in 2008.
The island is sited at the confluence of the Heilong and Wusuli Rivers (known as the Amur and Ussuri in Russian) in Heilongjiang Province.
Beijing hopes to make the island a symbol to further deepen cooperation between the two countries, as the border issues along a shared boundary of over 4,300 kilometers was resolved since the 2008 demarcation, Da Zhigang, director of the Institute of Northeast Asian Studies at the Heilongjiang Provincial Academy of Social Sciences, told the Global Times on Wednesday.
On October 14, 2008, the two countries ended the century-long territorial dispute and held a border redrawing ceremony, declaring each side owned half of the 335-square-kilometer island.
"It has been proved here on the island that border disputes can be settled through peaceful dialogue," Gao Fei, a research fellow on Russian studies at the China Foreign Affairs University, told the Global Times.
"Considering the complexity and intensity of the border disputes between China and Russia, its successful resolution shows that China is a country that is willing to adopt such a solution," Gao noted.
According to a government statement in the People's Daily on May 25, 1969, there were 4,189 border clashes between China and the Soviet Union from October 1964 to March 15, 1969. The clashes later escalated into battles on Zhenbao Island in the middle of the Wusuli River, causing heavy casualties on both sides. The two countries agreed in 1991 that Zhenbao was Chinese territory.
One of the biggest achievements China and Russia has made to the international community is that "we managed to transfer a border of conflicts to a link of peace and cooperation," Gao said.
Unfulfilled potential
Analysts noted that current economic and trade cooperation between China and Russia is not reaching its full potential.
"The Chinese government is taking a more pragmatic approach in linking the two countries' economic policies in this region," Gao said, citing the interconnection of road networks and energy networks as examples.
Factoring in the geographical relationship and current bilateral relations between China and Russia, "China's policy to revitalize its northeastern region should connect with Russia's policies to develop its far eastern region, such as its Priority Development Areas strategy," Da said.
Xi's visit also delivered a message that China hopes both countries will step up efforts to push forward existing cooperation projects, Da added, citing the Tongjiang bridge project as an example.
Chinese authorities announced that construction of the main body of the Chinese side of a railway bridge linking Tongjiang in Heilongjiang with Nizhneleninskoye in Russia has been completed, Xinhua reported on May 17.
Da suggested that more "pragmatic cooperation" should be promoted so as to "truly underpin the mutual trust between leaders and the current good political and diplomatic relations between the two countries."
The expert noted that the goal of increasing bilateral trade to $100 billion by 2015 has not been realized amid Western sanctions and depreciation of the ruble, as he expressed concern that the $200 billion trade goal by 2020 was slipping further out of reach.
According to China's General Administration of Customs, trade volume between the two countries in 2015 reached $68 billion, a drop of 28.6 percent year-on-year, Xinhua reported in January.
Commenting on the $200 billion goal by 2020, Zhang Di, economic and commercial minister counselor at the Chinese Embassy in Moscow, said earlier this year that it is not impossible to reach that goal amid changes in international affairs as well as internal and external conditions affecting both countries.
Russia prioritizes relations with China, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Tuesday during a meeting with his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, Xinhua reported.
Lavrov expressed Russia's willingness to carry out in-depth connections between the Eurasian Economic Community and China's Belt and Road initiative to propel forward common development in the Eurasian region.
Russian President Vladimir Putin will visit China in June, according to a Sputnik News Agency April 29 report.