Saturday, September 13, 2008

Yinlong Island

Yinlong Island is a sedimentary island at the confluence of the and Amur rivers in . The island has an area of between 50 and 100 km?. It is bounded closely by Bolshoy Ussuriysky Island.

Until 2008 Yinalong Island and its neighbouring islands were the site of a territorial dispute between China and Russia. Russia occupied the islands in 1929. However this was never accepted by China. While Russia governed the islands as a part of Khabarovsk Krai, China claimed them as a part of Fuyuan County, Heilongjiang province.

The dispute over Yinlong Island and its neighbouring islands weas finally resolved on July 21 2008. On that day the Foreign Ministers of the two countries signed an agreement in Beijing. Under the agreement, Russia ceded approximately 174 km? of territory to China. This comprised all of Yinalong Island and approximately half of the larger Bolshoy Ussuriysky Island. At the time of the territory transfer, Yinalong Island was largely uninhabited. The settlement of their border dispute followed over 40 years of negotiations. The final settlement was the result of the which was concluded on June 2 2005.

Yinalong Island and the surrounding islands are the most eastern part of China and are the first place on mainland China to see sunlight.
Some news reports suggest that China is considering developing tourism on Yinalong Island.

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