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TOWARDS STABILITY: Mr Lavrov (left) and Mr Yang in Beijing yesterday for the signing of a border treaty between Russia and China. -- PHOTO: AFP
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BEIJING - CHINA and Russia yesterday signed a pact that finally settled the demarcation of their 4,300km border, the scene of armed clashes during the height of the Cold War.
The resolution is the latest sign of warming ties between Russia, which is eager to boost exports of fuel and nuclear products, and China, the world's second biggest consumer of oil and power.
Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi and his Russian counterpart, Mr Sergei Lavrov, signed the agreement in Beijing, Xinhua news agency said.
'This means that our international border has been demarcated in its entirety,' Mr Lavrov told a press conference.
'From a legal point of view, we have created the preconditions for the border to become a link of stability, openness, mutual benefit, friendship and cooperation.'
The agreement was reached after a three-year survey of the long border. No specific details were given to the press about the agreement, but the state-run China Daily said it involved Russia handing back 174 sq km of island territory to China.
All of Yinglong island, known as Tarabarov in Russian, and half of Heixiazi island, Bolshoi Ussuriysky in Russian, on the rivers that border the countries in China's far north-east were returned, according to the paper.
The border tug-of-war reaches back centuries to the competition for territory as imperial China and Czarist Russia expanded towards each other.
The struggle over border areas resulted in violent clashes in the 1960s and 1970s, when strained Sino-Soviet ties were at their most acrimonious, feeding fears abroad that the conflict could erupt into a nuclear war.
In recent years, however, the two have drawn closer together, partly from a mutual desire to counter US influence in world affairs.
Russia, whose US$1.3 trillion (S$1.75 trillion) economy is booming for a 10th straight year, has forged close ties with China on a number of world issues, including Iran and North Korea.
The two countries signed an agreement on demarcation of the eastern part of their border in 1991, followed by a supplementary agreement in 2004. A pact on the western border was signed in 1994.
Mr Lavrov said yesterday that the two governments are also considering expanding visa-free travel for their citizens to each other's countries, reported Russia's Itar-Tass news agency.
Currently, only holders of diplomatic and service passports, including representatives of business circles, enjoy the convenience.
Mr Lavrov also said Russian Premier Vladimir Putin would attend the opening ceremony of the Aug 8 to 24 Beijing Olympics and meet Chinese leaders.
REUTERS, AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
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