The United States and China in Power Transition - Strategic Studies ...

stated in the treaty “with satisfaction that each has no
territorial claim on the other” and agreed to hold talks
to finalize a few remaining border demarcations. 55
This treaty, as one noted Chinese observer pointed
out, had in essence signed off China’s claim to about
1.5 million square kilometers (roughly 579 thousand
square miles, see the circled area to China’s north in
Figure 4-2) of territory Russia took from the Qing Dynasty
in the 19th century under one of those so-called
unequal treaties imposed on China by foreign powers.
The size of this lost land is about 40 times that of
Taiwan. 56
Why did China give up such a large claim for no
tangible return from Russia yet refuse to let a tiny Taiwan
go away? In many ways, China’s compromise in
the Sino-Russo treaty is to buy peace from Russia for
China’s economic development and in case China has
to use force against Taiwan and consequently confront
the United States, because of the U.S. commitment to
Taiwan’s defense, Russia will not make trouble for
China along the borders but instead, will possibly
lend support to China. Also, China’s long-lost northern
territory is a scarcely-populated area with snow
cover for much of the time in the year. There is really
not much the Chinese feel dear about.
However, Taiwan is an entirely different story. The
island has a government that was once an arch enemy
of the CCP. Before its defeat in 1949, this government
sought the destruction of the CCP and had an on-andoff
civil war with the CCP for over 20 years. After it
took shelter in Taiwan, this government continued the
unfinished civil war with the CCP by waging overt
and covert campaigns to reclaim the mainland and
fought against the CCP for the legitimate representation
of China in the international community until
101