Peace and Conflict on the Sino-Soviet Border, 1960–91

The Sino-Soviet border issue has the official history of more than thirty years, although it has deeper historical roots and a number of related problems remain unsolved even today. The Chinese first raised the subject with the Soviets in the early 1960-s, when the local population started to cross the border more frequently. In 1964, the negotiations were held and the Eastern part of the border was agreed on, although it was never legalized by a formal document. The talks were frozen. By 1969, due to the deteriorating bilateral relations, the situation near the borderline changed dramatically, the hostility reached its peak during the 1969 border clashes. From then on, both countries maintained a status-quo and held first border negotiations and then political consultations. With Gorbachev assuming power, the substantial negotiations began, but due to the pressure from the Soviet public, the agreement did not exceed the scope of 1964 negotiations.

The related research has so far analyzed the Sino-Soviet border issue from the perspective of history and strategic studies. The issue is either examined in its correlation with the domestic and foreign policy of either country, or it is analyzed through the prism of defense strategy and strategic positioning of the troops and related facilities in the region.

This research attempts to break away from purely historical or strategic understanding of the issue. It follows the change in the region from the state of peace to first violent and then non-violent conflict and finally to the state of negative peace. The research aims to focus on the border conflict and peace-building process and identify state-level, group-level and individual factors, such as ethnic identity, traditional understanding of the border, the international law, public opinion, etc.,that had direct influence on the situation. The research tries to define the term “national interest” and its relation to “peace”. 

The research is based on the newly declassified documents from the Russian archives and the recently published memoirs of the Soviet and Chinese diplomats.