BEIJING, July 21: China and Russia signed an agreement on Monday that ended a decades-long territorial dispute and finally determined their borders, in the latest sign of warming ties between the former Cold War foes.

The protocol, signed by the two countries’ foreign ministers in Beijing, added to an existing agreement on their 4,300-kilometre boundary, meaning all of the frontier is now set.

“China and Russia have discussed their border for over 40 years. It’s no simple matter that we have now demarcated the border in its entirety,” Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi said, after the agreement was signed.

“At a political level, it’s a mutually beneficial, win-win result,” he told reporters at a briefing at the Diaoyutai State Guest House in the Chinese capital.

A bitter rift during the Cold War saw the one-time communist allies fight skirmishes along their border.

For years, both nations deployed enormous tank armies on both sides of the border, and if full-scale war had broken out, it could have led to one of the largest land battles in history.

Recently, however, Russia and China have drawn closer together, motivated partly by a joint ambition to prioritise economic growth.

“As we preserve domestic stability in our respective societies, we have now created a very good external environment for social and economic development, which is of huge benefit to us both,” Yang said.

Yang’s Russian counterpart, Sergei Lavrov, described how the border — once one of the world’s most heavily fortified frontiers — would gradually come to bring the two nations closer.

“From a legal point of view we have created the preconditions for the border to become a link of stability, openness, mutual benefit, friendship and cooperation,” Lavrov said.

There were no specific details given to the press about the agreement, but the state-run China Daily newspaper said the agreement involved Russia handing back 174 square kilometres of island territory to China.

All of Yinlong island, known as Tarabarov in Russian, and half of Heixiazi island, Bolshoi Ussuriysky in Russian, in the rivers that border the countries in China’s far northeast were returned, according to the paper.

The area will now become the “first place on the mainland to see sunlight”, forming the easternmost tip of the country, the China Daily said.

The area, long claimed by China, was occupied by the former Soviet Union in a border skirmish as early as 1929, according to the paper.

After his meeting with Lavrov, Yang spoke positively about the future of bilateral relations.

“We exchanged views about how to further promote our bilateral strategic relationship and strengthen our cooperation at the regional and global levels.

We reached a broad consensus. I think our discussions were positive,” Yang said.

Chinese President Hu Jintao met Lavrov later on Monday, welcoming progress made between the two countries.

“I’m convinced that this visit will be instrumental in deepening the practical cooperation and strategic coordination between our two countries,” Hu said when meeting Lavrov in Beijing’s Great Hall of the People.—AFP