China Daily
China has urged certain individuals not to repeatedly hype up the so-called territorial issue between Beijing and Moscow, saying on Monday that such rumors have no audience in either country and are doomed to fail. Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian made the remark at a daily news briefing, following the publication of an article titled “China’s long game with Russia “by the United States-based news website The Hill, which speculated that China is nurturing a longer-term opportunity by staying close to Russia through the Ukraine crisis.
The article claimed that Russia could then be motivated to “lease or even sell” large parts of the Russian Far East to China. “The report is a replica of the ‘China threat theory’, which in essence aims to drive a wedge between China and Russia,” Zhao said. China and Russia made it clear in their extended Treaty of Good-Neighborliness and Friendly Cooperation last year that the boundary issue left over from history has been completely resolved and that neither side has any territorial claim against the other, he added. In the treaty, the two countries also expressed commitment to building their common border into a bond of long-lasting peace and friendship from generation to generation, Zhao said, adding that China and Russia have always matched their words with their deeds over the past 20 years. He reiterated that Beijing and Moscow have no intention of forming an exclusive clique, and it’s simply impossible to drive a wedge or sow discord between the two countries, adding that China-Russia relations can withstand the tests of changes in the international landscape.
