History
Until 2004, Bolshoy Ussuriyskiy Island was the site of a territorial dispute between China and Russia. The Soviet Union occupied Bolshoy Ussuriyskiy and Yinlong Islands in 1929, but this was not 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 easternmost part of China.
The difficulty in settling this dispute involved competing interests between Russia and China. To settle the boundary with along the lines claimed by China would have moved settled parts of the city of Kharbarovsk into China. However, to grant the island to Russia would have put the boundary along a waterway that is not navigable by large ships restricting Chinese ability to move ships along the Amur.
On October 14, 2004, the Complementary Agreement between the People's Republic of China and the Russian Federation on the Eastern Section of the China-Russia Boundary was signed, in which Russia agreed to relinquish control over Yinlong Island and around half of Bolshoy Ussuriysky. About 170 square kilometres of Bolshoy Ussuriysky was transferred to China, while the rest will remain in Russia's jurisdiction. In return, China agreed to drop all territorial claims to the remainder of Bolshoy Ussuriysky kept by Russia and received the right to navigate ships along the main channel of the Amur.
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