This year is the 60th anniversary of diplomatic ties between China and Russia, at least that’s what Chinese and Russian leaders keep telling us whenever they get together. It’s a load of bollocks. Sixty years ago, the People’s Republic of China established diplomatic relations with the Soviet Union. The Soviet Union ceased to exist in December 1991, disintegrating into 15 independent republics, one of them being the (no-longer Soviet) Russian Federation.
So, if China is celebrating the 60th anniversary of relations with Russia, it should be doing the same with Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Belarus, Ukraine, Moldova, Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Kyrghyzstan and Kazakhstan. It isn’t. Neither are they.
China’s Foreign Ministry seems to be a reasonable source of information on this aspect of Chinese diplomacy, saying:
On December 25, 1991, the day Gorbachev announced his resignation as the president of the Soviet Union, the spokesman of the Chinese Foreign Ministry said in a statement that since the former Soviet republics had announced independence, the Chinese government, in keeping with the principle of not interfering in the internal affairs of other countries, respected the choices of the people of these countries. On December 27, Foreign Minister Qian Qichen sent a telegram to the foreign minister of the Russian Federation, informing him that China had re-appointed Ambassador Wang Jinqing to the former Soviet Union as ambassador to the Russian Federation.
So, if China and Russia celebrate an anniversary this year, surely it should the not-so-exciting 18th. They’ll have to wait until 2051 for 60.
(UPDATE: See G.’s comment below on why I am probably completely wrong.)
Tianjin Daily, October 4, 1949, annoucing the establishment of Sino-Soviet relations
5 Comments
Are you assuming that Chinese can count ?
Oh, I then read the Tianjin Daily. It’s quite surprising. The relationship was established by the USSR informing the CCP that the relationship was established. Note that it is USSR informing CCP, and not a mutual agreement to establish relationship. That shows who was the boss.
It’s not all that absurd. The Russian Federation is the successor state (государство-правопреемник) of the Soviet Union. The other former Soviet Republics, for most purposes, are not.
When Montenegro split from the state called “Serbia and Montenegro” in the final act of the destruction of Yugoslavia, Serbia “inherited” the seat in the UN, while Montenegro had to apply for membership.
See also: Vienna Convention on Succession of States in respect of Treaties http://untreaty.un.org/ilc/texts/instruments/english/conventions/3_2_1978.pdf
Perhaps you could dial down the sarcasm a bit, at least in light of the comment that G made, and which you acknowledged?
Look before you leap…er hit publish.
But that’s what the comments are for, Fiskadoro. Being wrong is sometimes more useful than being right, so long as someone points out clearly why we are wrong. It’s one of the ways we learn.
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