Sino-Soviet border conflict

Under the governorship of Sheng Shicai (1933–1944) in Northwest China's Xinjiang Province, China's Kuomintang recognized for the first time the ethnic category of a Uyghur people by following the Soviet ethnic policy.[10] That ethnogenesis of a "national" people eligible for territorialized autonomy broadly benefited the Soviet Union, which organized conferences in Fergana and Semirechye (in Soviet Central Asia) to cause "revolution" in Altishahr (southern Xinjiang) and Dzungaria (northern Xinjiang).[11][10]

Both the Soviet Union and the White Movement covertly allied with the Ili National Army to fight the Kuomintang in the Three Districts Revolution. Although the mostly Muslim Uyghur rebels participated in pogroms against Han Chinese generally, the turmoil eventually resulted in the replacement of Kuomintang rule in Xinjiang with that of the Chinese Communist Party.[11]

Soviet historiography, more specifically "Uyghur Studies," was increasingly politicized to match the tension of the Sino-Soviet split of the 1960s and the 1970s. One Soviet Turkologist, Tursun Rakhminov, who worked for the Soviet Communist Party, argued that the modern Uyghurs had founded the ancient Toquz Oghuz Country (744–840), the Kara-Khanid Khanate (840–1212), and so forth. The premodern states' wars against Chinese dynasties were cast as struggles for national liberation by the Uyghur ethnic group. Soviet historiography was not consistent on those issues; when Sino-Soviet relations were warmer, for example, the Three Districts Revolution was portrayed by Soviet historians as part of opposition to the Kuomintang during the Chinese Civil War, not as an anti-Chinese bid for national liberation. The Soviets also encouraged migration of Uyghurs to its territory in Kazakhstan, along the 4,380 km (2,738 mi) border. In May 1962, 60,000 Uyghurs from Xinjiang Province crossed the frontier into the Soviet Union to flee the famine and economic chaos of the Great Leap Forward.[12]

Sino-Soviet border conflict
Zhenbao Island and the border
Chinese name
Traditional Chinese	中蘇邊界衝突
Simplified Chinese	中苏边界冲突
Transcriptions Standard Mandarin Hanyu Pinyin Zhōng Sū biānjiè chōngtū IPA [ʈʂʊ́ŋ sú pjɛ́ntɕjê ʈʂʰʊ́ŋtʰú] Yue: Cantonese Jyutping Zung1 Sou1 bin1gaai3 cung1dat6
Alternative Chinese name
Traditional Chinese	珍寶島自衛反擊戰
Simplified Chinese	珍宝岛自卫反击战
Literal meaning	Zhenbao Island self-defense
Transcriptions Standard Mandarin Hanyu Pinyin Zhēnbǎo dǎo zìwèi fǎnjí zhàn
Russian name
Russian	Пограничный конфликт на острове Даманском
Romanization	Pograničnyj konflikt na ostrove Damanskom

Amid heightening tensions, the Soviet Union and China began border talks. Although the Soviet Union had granted all of the territory of the Japanese puppet state of Manchukuo to the Chinese Communists in 1945, which decisively assisted them during the Chinese Civil War, the Chinese now indirectly demanded territorial concessions on the basis that the 19th-century treaties transferring ownership of the sparsely-populated Outer Manchuria, concluded by Qing dynasty China and the Russian Empire, were "Unequal Treaties" and amounted to the annexation of rightful Chinese territory. Moscow would not accept that interpretation, but by 1964, both sides had reached a preliminary agreement on the eastern section of the border, including Zhenbao Island, which would be handed over to China.[13]

In July 1964, CCP Chairman Mao Zedong, in a meeting with the Japanese Socialist Party delegation, stated that Russia had unilaterally incorporated vast territories in Siberia and the Far East as far as Kamchatka. He stated that China and Russia still had not resolved this issue. The comments were leaked to the public. Outraged, Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev refused to approve the border agreement.[13]

The border dispute in the west centered on 52,000 square kilometres (20,000 sq mi) of Soviet-controlled land in the Pamirs that lay on the border of Xinjiang and the Tajik Soviet Socialist Republic. In 1892, the Russian Empire and the Qing Dynasty had agreed that the border would consist of the ridge of the Sarikol Range, but the exact border remained contentious throughout the 20th century. In the 1960s, the Chinese began to insist that the Soviet Union evacuate the region.

From around 1900, after the Treaty of Peking (1860) had assigned Outer Manchuria (Primorskiy Kray) to Russia, the eastern part of the Sino-Soviet border had mainly been demarcated by three rivers, the Argun River from the tripartite junction with Mongolia to the north tip of China, running southwest to northeast, then the Amur River to Khabarovsk from northwest to southeast, where it was joined by the Ussuri River running south to north:

"The modern method (used for the past 200 years) of demarcating a river boundary between states today is to set the boundary at either the median line (ligne médiane) of the river or around the area most suitable for navigation under what is known as the 'thalweg principle'".[14]

There is nothing in either the 1858 or the 1860 treaty to suggest the border is anywhere other than the thalweg.

China claimed the islands, as they were on the Chinese side of the river if they were demarcated according to international law by using shipping lanes. The Soviets claimed and already effectively controlled almost every island along the rivers.

Russia and subsequently the Soviet Union claimed all the islands in both rivers including those that were Chinese according to the thalweg principle. In the 1991 treaty, Russia largely conceded that these islands were Chinese, but Bolshoy Ussuriysky Island, at the confluence of the Amur and the Ussuri Rivers, had become part of the Russian city of Khabarovsk, and China agreed that about two thirds of the island should remain Russian.

The Soviets had possessed nuclear weapons for a longer time than the Chinese and so the Chinese adopted an asymmetric deterrence strategy that threatened a large conventional people's war in response to a Soviet counterforce nuclear first strike. Chinese numerical superiority was the basis of its strategy to deter a Soviet nuclear attack. Since 1949, Chinese strategy, as articulated by Mao, emphasized the superiority of "man over weapons". Although weapons were certainly an important component of warfare, Mao argued that they were "not the decisive factor; it is people, not things, that are decisive. The contest of strength is not only a contest of military and economic power, but also a contest of human power and morale." To Mao, "non-material" factors like "creativity, flexibility and high morale" were also "critical determinants in warfare'.[7]

The Soviets were not confident that they could win such a conflict. A large Chinese incursion could threaten strategic centers in Blagoveshchensk, Vladivostok, and Khabarovsk as well as crucial nodes of the Trans-Siberian Railroad. According to Arkady Shevchenko, a high-ranking Soviet defector to the United States, "The Politburo was terrified that the Chinese might make a mass intrusion into Soviet territory". A nightmare vision of invasion by millions of Chinese made the Soviet leaders almost frantic: "Despite our overwhelming superiority in weaponry, it would not be easy for the USSR to cope with an assault of this magnitude". China's "vast population and deep knowledge and experience in guerrilla warfare" would nearly certainly cause the Soviets' launching of an attack on China's nuclear program to end in both states being "mired in an endless war".[7]

Concerns about Chinese manpower and its people's war strategy ran so deep that some bureaucrats in Moscow argued that the only way to defend against a massive conventional onslaught was to use nuclear weapons. Some even advocated deploying nuclear mines along the Sino-Soviet border. By threatening to initiate a prolonged conventional conflict in retaliation for a nuclear strike, Beijing used an asymmetric deterrence strategy that was intended to convince Moscow that the costs of an attack would outweigh the benefits.

China had found its strategic rationale. While most Soviet military specialists did not fear a Chinese nuclear reprisal and believed that China's arsenal was too small, rudimentary, and vulnerable to survive a first strike and to carry out a retaliatory attack, China's massive conventional army caused great concern.

Nikolai Ogarkov, a senior Soviet military officer, believed that a massive nuclear attack "would inevitably mean world war." Even a limited counterforce strike on China's nuclear facilities was dangerous, Ogarkov argued, because a few nuclear weapons would "hardly annihilate" a country the size of China, which, in response, would "fight unrelentingly".[7]

A Soviet ship using a water cannon against a Chinese fisherman on the Ussuri River, 6 May 1969

On 2 March 1969, a group of People's Liberation Army troops ambushed Soviet border guards on Zhenbao Island. According to Chinese sources, the Soviets suffered 58 dead and wounded. The Chinese losses were reported as 29 dead.[19] According to Soviet sources, at least 248 Chinese troops were killed on the island and on the frozen river,[20] and 32 Soviet border guards were killed, with 14 wounded.[21]

Both sides have since blamed the other for the start of the conflict. However, a scholarly consensus has emerged that the border crisis had been a premeditated act of aggression orchestrated by the Chinese side. The American scholar Lyle J. Goldstein noted that Russian documents released since the glasnost era paint an unflattering picture of the Red Army command in the Far East with senior generals surprised by the outbreak of the fighting and of Red Army units haphazardly committed to action in a piecemeal style, but all of the documents speak of the Chinese as the aggressors.[22] Most Chinese historians agree that on 2 March 1969, Chinese forces planned and executed an ambush, which took the Soviets completely by surprise.[16] The reasons for the Chinese leadership to opt for such an offensive measure against the Soviets remains a disputed question.[23]

According to Robinson, who based his analysis mostly on Soviet sources due to the lack of factual reports from the Chinese at the time of writing,[24] on March 2 around 11:00 Chinese forces ambushed an unsuspecting Soviet border patrol on the island and inflicted heavy losses on the patrol. Shortly, Soviet reinforcements arrived from the nearby outpost and allegedly pinned the Chinese down, surrounded them for a time and then forced the remaining Chinese to retreat to their side of the bank. The entire battle lasted about 2 hours. Both sides claimed victory, however, neither force remained permanently on the island after the battle was over, although the Soviets periodically moved off and on at will.[25]

Robinson wrote that it is not clear who began a battle of March 15. Both sides claimed that the other side attacked their early-morning patrol. The battle started around 9:45 or 10:00 with artillery fire from the Chinese bank. Initially an outnumbering Chinese force managed to make Soviets to either leave the island entirely or withdraw to its eastern extremity. A consequent counterattack by Russian tanks and mechanized infantry supported by three waves of intense artillery fire at 13:00 apparently broke the Chinese positions on the island and the Chinese retreated to their own bank. The battle was over at 19:00. Soviets didn't follow up the Chinese retreat with large-scale garrisoning of the island, although they continued intense patrolling.[18]

There is an alternative interpretation of the events. The Cultural Revolution increased tensions between China and the Soviets, which led to brawls between border patrols. On 27 December 1968, several Soviet armored vehicles landed on Zhenbao Island, and Soviet soldiers used sticks to beat Chinese soldiers. On 23 January 1969, another violent conflict occurred on the island, and 28 Chinese soldiers were reportedly wounded. From 6 to 25 February 1969, five more similar incidents occurred, and shooting broke out in March 1969. According to the Chinese version of events, at 8:40 a.m. on the 2 March 1969, 30 Chinese border patrol personnel split into two groups approached the island and were met by about 70 Soviet soldiers along with one truck and reinforced with two armoured vehicles attempting to encircle the Chinese patrol. The Chinese claim the Soviets had opened fire at 9:17.[26] The Soviets responded with tanks, armoured personnel carriers (APCs), and artillery bombardment. Over three days, the PLA successfully halted Soviet penetration and eventually evicted all Soviet troops from Zhenbao Island. During the skirmish, the Chinese deployed two reinforced infantry platoons with artillery support. Chinese sources state the Soviets deployed some 60 soldiers and six BTR-60 amphibious APCs, and in a second attack, some 100 troops backed up by 10 tanks and 14 APCs including artillery.[19] The PLA had prepared for that confrontation for two to three months.

From among the units, the Chinese selected 900 soldiers commanded by army staff members with combat experience. They were provided with special training and special equipment and were secretly dispatched to take position on Zhenbao Island in advance.[6] Chinese General Chen Xilian stated the Chinese had won a clear victory on the battlefield.[17]

On March 15, initial Soviet attacks were repulsed after suffering heavy losses. The Soviet border troops did not fight again, a battalion under Lieutenant Colonel Smirnov from the 135th Motorized Infantry Division went on the attack. The battalion, which came under heavy machine gun fire from the enemy, sustained heavy losses and withdrew from the island.[27] By the end of March 15 Soviet General Oleg Losik ordered to deploy then-secret BM-21 "Grad" multiple rocket launchers. The Soviets fired 10,000 artillery rounds in a nine-hour engagement with the Chinese along with 36 sorties.[7] Soviet officials believed the attack was devastating for the Chinese troops and materials, which could not be verified by Chinese sources.[28] The Chinese troops left their positions on the island, and the Soviets withdrew to their positions on the Russian bank of the Ussuri River.[29][18] Vladimir Gorodinsky claims that the main group of Chinese troops near the island did not suffer any significant losses as a result of the usage of BM-21 due to a mistake in the calculation by the Headquarters of the Rocket Forces. He claims that after 9 pm, the Chinese began firing heavy mortars not only at the island but at the Soviet territory as well and Major V.Nesov, commander of the 135th Motorized Infantry Division, was forced to order the division and frontier guards to retreat 4-5 kilometers inland to avoid casualties.[30] Maxwell notes that much of academic writing about the Zhenbao incident still argues that it resulted from an unprovoked aggressive action by China and that the USSR was unquestionably the victor. [31]

On 16 March 1969, the Soviets entered the island to collect their dead, with the Chinese holding their fire. On 17 March 1969, the Soviets tried to recover a disabled T-62 tank from the island, but their effort was repelled by Chinese artillery.[19]

On 21 March, the Soviets sent a demolition team in an attempt to destroy the tank. The Chinese opened fire and thwarted the Soviet attempt.[19] With the help of divers from the Chinese navy, the PLA pulled the T-62 tank onshore. The tank was later given to the Chinese Military Museum.

Until 1991, the island remained contested. According to Chinese sources, the Chinese had built barracks and conducted constant presence on the island since Aug 1969.[32] Ryabushkin claims that the Soviet border guards had continued to thwart all Chinese attempts to land on it until September 10 when they were ordered to cease fire, effectively surrendering the island, in preparation for the Kosygin-Zhou talks that happened on September 11.[33]

The Soviet T-62 tank that was captured by the Chinese during the 1969 clash is now on display at the Military Museum of the Chinese People's Revolution.

Five Soviet soldiers were awarded the top honour of Hero of the Soviet Union for bravery and valor during the Damansky conflict. Colonel Demokrat Leonov led the group of four T-62 tanks in a counterattack on 15 March and was killed by a Chinese sniper when he was leaving a destroyed vehicle.

Senior Lieutenant Vitaly Bubenin led a relief mission of 23 soldiers from the nearby border guard's outpost and conducted a BTR-60 raid into the Chinese rear that allegedly left 248 attackers dead. Junior Sergeant Yuri Babansky assumed command in a battle on 2 March, when the enemy had a 10-1 superiority, and when Senior Lieutenant Strelnikov was killed. Babansky later led combat search-and-rescue teams, which retrieved the bodies of Strelnikov and Leonov. Junior Sergeant Vladimir Orekhov took part in the 15 March battle. As a machine gunner, he was part of the first attacking line against the Chinese forces encamped on the island. He destroyed the enemy machine gun nest and was wounded twice, but he continued to fight until he died of his wounds. High military orders of Lenin, the Red Banner, the Red Star and Glory were awarded to 54 soldiers and officers, and the medals "For Courage" and "For Battle Merit" to 94 border guards and servicemen.

In the early 1960s, the United States had "probed" the level of Soviet interest in joint action against Chinese nuclear weapons facilities; the Soviets were only willing to persuade China to sign the Partial Test Ban Treaty of 1963. Now the Soviets probed what the US reaction would be if the Soviets attacked the facilities. Whether this was part of an attempt to intimidate China, a real Soviet contingency plan, or both is unclear,[46] but the Soviets approached other foreign governments, and the leadership of Communist parties in several countries; the intention was likely to have them communicate the Soviet nuclear threat to China.[7] Noting that "neither side wishes the inflamed border situation to get out of hand," the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) in August 1969 described the conflict as having "explosive potential" in the President's Daily Briefing.[47] The agency stated that "the potential for a war between them clearly exists," including a Soviet attack on Chinese nuclear facilities, and China "appears to view the USSR as its most immediate enemy."[48] Allen S. Whiting suggested that the Soviets might feel forced to use tactical nuclear weapons against Chinese human wave attacks after a strike on nuclear facilities.[46]

The Chinese did not believe that a Soviet nuclear attack was likely until 27 August, when CIA director Richard Helms announced that the Soviets had asked foreign governments what their reaction would be to a preemptive attack on China. Although Helms did not include the Soviet probe to the US in the announcement, to China the announcement meant that the US took the Soviet probes seriously, so the threat of an imminent Soviet attack must be real.[7] As war fever gripped China, Moscow and Beijing took steps to lower the danger of a large-scale conflict. On 11 September 1969, Kosygin, on his way back from the funeral of Ho Chi Minh, stopped over in Beijing for talks with his Chinese counterpart, Zhou Enlai. Symbolic of the frosty relations between the two communist countries, the talks were held at Beijing Airport. Both agreed to return ambassadors who had been recalled and to begin border negotiations. On 23 and 29 September 1969, China conducted two unannounced nuclear weapons tests, with the second one a 3 MT thermonuclear device, to verify its nuclear strike capacity.

The interpretation of the reasoning and consequences of the conflict differs. Western historians believe that the events at Zhenbao Island and the subsequent border clashes in Xinjiang were caused mainly by Mao's use of Chinese local military superiority to satisfy domestic political imperatives in 1969.[49] Yang Kuisong concludes that "the [Sino-Soviet] military clashes were primarily the result of Mao Zedong's domestic mobilization strategies, connected to his worries about the development of the Cultural Revolution."[50]

Russian historians point out that the consequences of the conflict stem directly from a Chinese desire to take a leading role in the world and to strengthen ties with the United States. According to the 2004 Russian documentary film, Damansky Island Year 1969, Mao sought to elevate his country from the world's periphery and to place it at the centre of world politics.[51] Other analysts state that the Chinese intended their attack on Zhenbao to deter future Soviet invasions by demonstrating that China could not be "bullied."[7]

Most scholars and analysts describe this conflict to have resulted in a Soviet victory, because the conflict was not over what a final border deal between the USSR and China would look like. Instead, it concerned whether they would hold talks over the border at all. The outcome favored the USSR as China unwillingly submitted to negotiations over the border. The conflict ended on 20 October 1969 after the Chinese agreed with regards to negotiations over the border.[1]

Seen against the background of the Strategic Arms Limitation Talks between Brezhnev and Nixon, the Damansky incident could serve the double purpose of undermining the Soviet image of a peace-loving country if the Soviets chose to respond by a massive military operation against the invaders. If they demonstrated Soviet weakness, the Chinese attack could have been left without response. The killing of Soviet servicemen on the border signaled to the US that China had graduated into high politics and was ready to talk.

After the conflict, the US showed interest in strengthening ties with the Chinese government by secretly sending Henry Kissinger to China for a meeting with Zhou in 1971, during the so-called Ping Pong Diplomacy. That paved the way for Nixon to visit China and meet with Mao in 1972.[52]

Sino-Soviet relations remained sour after the conflict, despite the border talks, which began in 1969 and continued inconclusively for a decade. Domestically, the threat of war caused by the border clashes inaugurated a new stage in the Cultural Revolution: China's thorough militarization. The 9th National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party, held in the aftermath of the Zhenbao incident, confirmed Defense Minister Lin Biao as Mao's heir apparent. Following the events of 1969, the Soviets further increased their forces along the Sino-Soviet border and in the Mongolian People's Republic.

Overall, the Sino-Soviet confrontation, which reached its peak in 1969, paved the way to a profound transformation in the international political system.