The official map was released last year, but is back in the spotlight after Taiwan's president said China could take back parts that now belong to Russia. Nova.rs. 

Taiwanese President Lai Ching-te has disputed China's claims to the self-ruled island, questioning Beijing's focus on territorial integrity. Lai suggested that if China is really concerned about this, it should also try to get back the land it ceded to Russia in the 19th century.

China claims sovereignty over Taiwan, despite the fact that the Chinese Communist Party has never ruled the island. In recent years, Beijing has stepped up military activity near Taiwan to exert pressure, including large-scale exercises following the inauguration of Lai, whom Beijing considers a "separatist", Nova reports.

In an interview on the TV program "The View" with Catherine Chang, on the occasion of his first 100 days in office, Lai said: "If China wants to annex Taiwan ... it is not for territorial integrity. "If it's really for territorial integrity, why doesn't China take Russia back?" he said.

Lai mentioned the 1858 Treaty of Aigun, by which China ceded large parts of Manchuria north of the Amur River to Russia. This concession occurred during what China calls the "Century of Humiliation," when Western powers and Japan defeated the weakened Qing dynasty.

Concessions to Russia

Like Russian President Vladimir Putin, who maintains that Ukraine has always been part of the Russian nation, Chinese leader Xi Jinping has continued to make reclaiming lost territory high on his agenda for the "great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation."

China has promised to one day bring self-governing Taiwan into its ranks. It has also claimed much of the South China Sea, where Beijing's "historic rights" have caused conflict with the Philippines and other neighbors.

In recent years, past concessions to Russia have become a topic of interest among some Chinese nationalists who argue that Moscow should regain lost territory, including Vladivostok, the largest city in the Russian Far East.

The Chinese government has remained silent on the issue, instead emphasizing the strength of relations between Beijing and Moscow as an alternative coalition to the US-led West.

Russia, for its part, has become highly dependent on Chinese exports and demand for oil and natural gas due to international sanctions imposed after Vladimir Putin's 2022 invasion of Ukraine.

In 2023, China's Ministry of Natural Resources mandated that new maps use Chinese names for Vladivostok and seven other cities in the region.

A disputed island

The new map also showed the small island at the confluence of the Ussuri and Amur rivers as entirely in Chinese territory, despite its status under shared ownership under a 2008 border agreement.

Ownership of the island of Great Ussuri, or Heihazi in Chinese, was the subject of a dispute between Russia and China until it was resolved in 2005 when the island was divided.

However, China's map showed full ownership of the island, a move that likely did not help relations between the two nations, according to Mark Katz of George Mason University.

Katz is a professor at the Shaar School of Politics and Government and explained to Newsweek that both governments closely monitor official maps released by the other nation.

"The Kremlin is very closely monitoring Chinese maps - especially official ones - that claim that Russian territory actually belongs to China," Katz explained.

Katz added that even if the move upsets Vladimir Putin, he can do little about it because Russia is in such a precarious position, cut off from most global trade.

"Putin is in no position to protest loudly because Moscow has become so dependent on economic relations with China as a result of Western sanctions," he said.

The Kremlin initially did not comment on the new map, but Russian government officials eventually broke their silence on the change, saying the dispute had long been resolved.

"The Russian and Chinese sides adhere to the common position that the border issue between our countries has finally been resolved," said Maria Zakharova, spokeswoman for the Russian MFA.

As she said, its resolution was marked by the ratification of the Supplementary Agreement on the Russian-Chinese state border on its eastern part in 2005, according to which the island of Great Ussuri was divided between the parties.

Zakharova added that the demarcation of the common border was established along the entire length of the island in 2008, adding that both Russia and China have confirmed the "absence of mutual territorial claims" since at least 2001.

However, the new map has reportedly been approved by the Beijing authorities and has been published by China's Ministry of Natural Resources.

In a separate Newsweek report, Chinese officials showed no remorse for the map, with a senior official at China's Ministry of Natural Resources saying:

"A correct national map is a symbol of national sovereignty and territorial integrity."

"China's latest map angers Putin (Provided by The Daily Digest)
When the latest version of the Chinese standard map was released, there were some changes that did not suit Russia.
The new map has raised alarm in several countries because of the territorial claims the document makes against China's neighbors, but the claims about the island of Bolshoi Usuriysky are what raised voices in Moscow," the post said.

Chinese Foreign Ministry official Wang Wenbin said the map was "routine practice in exercising China's sovereignty in accordance with the law," adding: "We hope relevant parties can remain objective and calm and refrain from over-interpreting the question'.

NBC News noted that the Philippines, Malaysia, Vietnam, Taiwan and India have all voiced their opposition to China's new map. Each country has its own territorial disputes with China in a number of areas along the country's border.

When and if China will start taking back the territory

Hong Kong's South China Morning Post claims China needs to act quickly to reclaim "lost territories" from Russia.

The article referred to Karakhan's manifesto, which repudiated the imperial-era treaties that had stripped China of Manchuria and other areas and suggested that the Soviet government had promised to return those territories.

The article argues that with Putin preoccupied with the war in Ukraine, this could be an opportune time for China to assert its claims to these "lost territories".

He further noted that China, with its much larger economy and population, has considerable leverage over Russia and can use that to negotiate the return of its territories, threatening to cut off supplies of vital resources and technology.

The article suggested that if Russia's actions in Ukraine were justified, then China's claims to its historic territories in the Russian Far East could be justified as well.

"If Russia is indeed the legal heir of the USSR, as it has claimed since the 2014 invasion of Crimea, then Moscow is also responsible for addressing the broken Soviet promises regarding the Karakhan Manifesto and the eventual return of what is now the Russian Far East." to China," the article said.

According to a 2013 article by a Chinese author, if Beijing intends to reclaim territory from Moscow, it would likely do so around 2055-2060. The author predicts that by around 2045, the Russian government will experience a further decline in power and influence, giving China an opportunity to act.