Sino-Soviet border conflict

For the earlier border conflict, see Sino-Russian border conflicts and Sino-Soviet conflict (1929).

Sino-Soviet border conflict
Part of the Cold War and the Sino-Soviet split

Disputed areas in the Argun and Amur rivers. Damansky/Zhenbao is to the south-east, north of the lake.
Date2 March 1969 – 11 September 1969
(6 months, 1 week and 2 days)
Location
Border between China and the Soviet Union
Result Soviet victory[1][2]
Territorial
changes		 Status quo ante bellum
Belligerents
Soviet Union China
Commanders and leaders
Leonid Brezhnev Mao Zedong
Strength
658,002 814,003
Casualties and losses
Soviet sources:
58 killed
95 wounded[3]
Chinese sources:[4][5][6]
27 tanks/APCs destroyed
1 command car
Dozens of trucks destroyed
One Soviet T-62 tank captured[7]		 Soviet sources:[3]
800 killed[8][9]
Chinese sources:
72 killed
68 wounded

The Sino-Soviet border conflict was a seven-month undeclared military conflict between the Soviet Union and China in 1969, following the Sino-Soviet split. The most serious border clash, which brought the world's two largest socialist states to the brink of war, occurred near Damansky (Zhenbao) Island on the Ussuri (Wusuli) River in Manchuria. Clashes also took place in Xinjiang.

In 1964, the Chinese revisited the matter of the Sino-Soviet border demarcated in the 19th century, originally imposed upon the Qing dynasty by the Russian Empire by way of unequal treaties. Negotiations broke down amid heightening tensions and both sides began dramatically increasing military presence along the border. Sino-Soviet relations worsened further following the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia in 1968. Border confrontations escalated in March 1969 when a group of People's Liberation Army troops engaged Soviet border guards on Zhenbao Island in Manchuria, resulting in considerable casualties on both sides. Further clashes occurred in August at Tielieketi in Xinjiang and raised the prospect of an all-out nuclear exchange. The crisis de-escalated after Soviet Premier Alexei Kosygin met with Chinese Premier Zhou Enlai in September, and a ceasefire was ordered with a return to the status quo ante bellum.

To counterbalance the Soviet threat, the Chinese government sought a rapprochement with the United States. This resulted in a secret visit to China by Henry Kissinger in 1971, which in turn paved the way for President Richard Nixon's official visit to China in 1972. Sino-Soviet relations remained sour after the conflict despite the re-opening of border negotiations, which continued inconclusively for a decade. Serious talks did not occur until 1991, when an agreement was reached shortly before the fall of the Soviet Union. The border issues were conclusively resolved between China and Russia following a treaty signed in 2003 and an additional agreement in 2008.

  1. ^ Cite error: The named reference Difficulty was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ Kenneth G. Weiss (1982). POWER GROWS OUT OF THE BARREL OF A GUNBOAT: THE U.S. IN SINO-SOVIET CRISES (PDF). CNA. p. 37.
  3. ^ a b Ryabushkin, D. A. (2004). Мифы Даманского. АСТ. pp. 151, 263–264. ISBN 978-5-9578-0925-8.
  4. ^ Kuisong, pp. 25, 26, 29
  5. ^ Kuisong, p. 25
  6. ^ Cite error: The named reference Kuisong p.29 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  7. ^ Cite error: The named reference cna.org was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  8. ^ Baylis, John (1987). Contemporary Strategy: Theories and concepts. Lynne Rienner Pub. p. 89. ISBN 978-0-8419-0929-8.
  9. ^ McCauley, M. (2017). The Cold War 1949-2016. Seminar Studies. Taylor & Francis. p. 108. ISBN 978-1-351-81819-3.