Zhenbao Island

Verified Timeline

Lore & Background

In mid-1969, battles were fought on Zhenbao Island with considerable loss of life during the Sino-Soviet border conflict. The dispute raised concerns that it could ignite World War III until an initial resolution in November 1969. In his memoir, US President Richard Nixon recounted a story that Premier Zhou Enlai told him: during the 1969 flare-up, Soviet Premier Alexei Kosygin used a hotline to call China. When the Chinese operator answered, Kosygin said, 'This is Premier Kosygin. I would like to speak to Chairman Mao.' The operator, completely on his own, said, 'You are a revisionist, and therefore I will not connect you.' Kosygin then asked to speak to Prime Minister Chou, but the operator gave the same unauthorized reply and broke the connection. On 19 May 1991, both sides came to an agreement that the island was part of the territory of China, and the Soviet troops withdrew. A 2004 Russian documentary film, 'Damansky Island Year 1969' ("Остров Даманский. 1969 год"), was made about the 1969 incident.

Reader's Guide

Zhenbao Island's significance lies in its role as a flashpoint in the Sino-Soviet border conflict, a Cold War-era confrontation that brought two nuclear-armed communist powers to the brink of war. The 1969 battles, though small in scale, had global implications, as they threatened to escalate into a larger conflict. The dispute was resolved diplomatically, with the 1991 agreement affirming Chinese sovereignty. The island also illustrates the complexities of border delimitation: China (PRC) held that 'in the absence of an explicit treaty provision, the central line of the main channel—the Thalweg principle—provided a legal basis for delimiting the boundary in the two rivers,' claiming that 600 of the rivers' 700 islands—including Zhenbao Island on the Ussuri River, just 180 miles southwest of an important Soviet city, Khabarovsk—belonged to the P.R.C. The anecdote about the hotline operator underscores the deep mistrust between the two nations at the time. A 2004 Russian documentary, 'Damansky Island Year 1969,' later chronicled the incident, preserving its memory in popular culture.

Did You Know?

• Zhenbao Island has an area of only 0.74 square kilometres (0.29 sq mi).
• Its Russian name comes from railway engineer Stanislav Damansky, who died there in an incident in 1888 while charting the future route for the Trans-Siberian Railway.
• During the 1969 border incident, Soviet Premier Alexei Kosygin used a hotline to call China, but the Chinese operator refused to connect him, calling him a 'revisionist' and breaking the connection.
• On 19 May 1991, both sides agreed the island was part of China, and Soviet troops withdrew.
• A 2004 Russian documentary film, 'Damansky Island Year 1969,' was made about the 1969 incident.