
V. Larin, Institute of History, Archaeology and Ethnography of the Peoples of the Far East, Far-Eastern Branch of Russian Academy of Sciences, 89, Pushkinskaya Str., Vladivostok 890950, Russian Federation (victorlar@mail.ru)
Abstract. The article analyzes the current status and new development trends in Russian-Chinese transboundary region, which extends to the vast and reach area equal to India. Due to some economical, geographical and psychological reasons, by the beginning of the second decade of 21st century, the two countries’ governments could neither effectively explore a huge integrational potential of this transboundary space in order to reinforce economic and humanitarian foundation of Russia–China strategic partnership, nor transform this space into a territory of social stability and economic prosperity. Currently, Moscow and Beijing actively attempt to promote pretentious geo-political and economic projects for greater Eurasia along with their efforts to work out new agendas so as to speed up social and economic development of the Northeast China and the Russian Pacific. In their initial version, these projects have nothing to do with each other. However, the local authorities on both sides of the border actively support such efforts and try to promote their interests within the projects, viewing them as appropriate means to overcome (at least partially) the barriers, which constrain the economic progress of their districts. At the same time, Russian-Chinese transboundary region is becoming an operating juncture of international integration in the eastern part of Eurasia being of keen interest for other Pacific countries, primarily Japan and South Korea. The development and improvement of this region as one of fundamentals for the Russia–China strategic partnership and, simultaneously, a platform of international cooperation in Eastern Eurasia seem to be the only real opportunity not merely to overcome centuries-old backwardness of this periphery, but to make a breakthrough in bilateral relations. The author proposes to abandon the excessive enthusiasm and illusion as concerns the coming "co-junction" in the western part of the continent, and to refocus on the Russian-Chinese pragmatic cooperation in the eastern segment of Eurasia and North Pacific, which have potential to build a new basis for economic and security system of Eastern Eurasia on the platform of interaction between Russia, China and all interested parties.
Keywords: Eurasia, transboundary region, Russia–China interaction, politics, integration
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