Treaty of Aigun
The Treaty of Aigun ( Chinese瑷 珲 条约, pinyin: Aìhún Tiáoyuē, Russian Айгунский договор ) was concluded between Russia and Qing China on May 28, 1858 in the Manchurian city of Aigun . It fits in with the series of “ unequal treaties ” that China was forced to conclude in the 19th century due to its own economic and military weakness by foreign powers. The Russian side was governed by the Governor General of Eastern Siberia Nikolai Nikolayevich Muravyov-Amurskyrepresented the Chinese by the Commander in Chief of the Chinese Army Yishan . The treaty was ratified by the Chinese emperor on June 14, 1858, and by the Russian government on July 20.
The contract was the result of a long Russian expansion process in the Amur area and the Far East . The Amur expedition of the Russian researcher Gennady Ivanovich Newelskoi played a particularly important role . In the preamble to the treaty it was stated that it was concluded by “mutual agreement” and “for the great eternal friendship of two great states”. The Russian-Chinese border was regulated as follows: the left bank of the Amur from the Argun River to the mouth of the ocean will be closed to Russia, while the right bank downriver to the Ussuri River will remain in the possession of the Chinese. The land from the Ussuri River to the sea is classified “until further notice” as a “shared area”. River traffic will be blocked for the other states.
Overall, China lost parts of Manchuria through this treaty that had been awarded to it as a result of the Treaty of Nerchinsk in 1689. The Treaty of Aigun was supplemented two years later by the Beijing Treaty of 1860 .
literature
- Jonathan D. Spence : China's way into the modern age (= dtv 30795). Updated and expanded edition. Deutscher Taschenbuch-Verlag, Munich 2001, ISBN 3-423-30795-1 .
- Text of the contract in: Дмитрий Алексеевич Пещуров (ed.): Сборник договоров России с Китаем. 1689-1881 гг. (= Россия-Договоры ). МИД, Санкт-Петербург 1889 (Reprint: Michael Weiers (Ed.): The Treaties between Russia and China. 1689–1881. = The treaties between Russia and China. 1689–1881 (= Wehling Reprints. No. 1). Facsimile of the Collection published in Saint Petersburg in 1889 with the treaty texts in Russian, Latin and French as well as Chinese, Manchurian and Mongolian (Woice, Bonn 1979, ISBN 3-88437-000-6 ).