Putin personally asked Black Blind Island, China-Russia has signed a white paper black letter, and the Russian government this time did not dare to neglect.
During Putin’s visit to China last week, China and Russia signed a “Roadmap for the Implementation of the Joint Protection and Development Plan for the Black Blind Island”.
Before that, Putin ordered tasks to be completed by the end of 2025 and now the Russian government has finally taken a crucial step.
Putin's attention to developing the Black Blind Island is not a momentary thought
In November last year, Putin personally gave instructions at a government meeting that the Russian Federation government should jointly approve a roadmap to develop the Black Blind Island in cooperation with China and ensure that the plan starts in 2025.
More than nine months later, China-Russia finally signed the relevant roadmap, and the next step in the implementation is only a matter of time.
Putin then demanded that the federal government should submit a development report on the Black Blind Island by April 15 this year and submit an annual report to the Kremlin every year thereafter.
This institutionalized reporting mechanism is not common within the Russian government, let alone by Putin himself.
Obviously, Putin hopes to incorporate the development of Black Blind Island into Russia’s long-term strategic objectives, rather than a short-term project of “three minutes of heat.”In his eyes, Black Blind Island is not just a problem of border ports, but a key breakthrough for the overall development of Russia’s Far East.
Putin’s emphasis on the development of the Black Blind Island is by no means temporary, and there is a special historical link behind his strategic considerations.
The Black Blind Island first belonged to China.
The Black Blind Island is located at the intersection of the Chernobyl River and the Ussuri River, and its strategic location is very special.After the rearrangement of the border in 2004, China and Russia each owned half the area of the island.
After being divided into two, the Chinese side quickly launched a large number of infrastructure and ecological protection construction. Connecting the Usu Bridge to the Hunan River Province, the wetland protection park was established, the island was also included in the national nature reserve area, really did "protection" and "development" both hands, both hands are hard.
On the contrary to the Russian side, the development of the Black Blind Island is long behind, and there are few real landing projects in addition to the planning and conception of fragments.
The above is not concerned, the below is lazy, and in the end you have to wait for external forces.
Moscow's emphasis on the development of the Black Blind Island, the most obvious turning point came after the outbreak of the Russian-Ukrainian conflict. Faced with Western sanctions and the overall deterioration of relations with Europe, Russia had to accelerate the footsteps of "looking eastward".
In 2023, China-Russia trade exceeded $2400 billion, an increase of more than 26% compared to the previous year, a record high, while the surge in trade volume poses huge challenges to China-Russia's original port and logistics system.
The pressure is mainly on the Russian side: Russia’s developed western regions, its infrastructure construction is in poor condition, let alone the relatively underdeveloped Far East.
China's infrastructure construction on its own does not need to say much, the pressure is mainly on the Russian side.
In this context, the plan for the joint development of the Black Blind Island and the establishment of a road port on the island was put on the agenda by the Russian side.
As early as 2023, the Russian side released a signal through its consulate in Harbin, revealing that Chinese and Russian officials were discussing the prospects for cooperation in developing the Black Blind Island.
Nearly at the same time, then-Russian ambassador to China Janisov also spoke, stressing that the establishment of a free trade zone on Black Blind Island "has broad prospects", which can inject new momentum into the economic and trade relations between the two countries.
While a series of signs remained only at the level of the diplomatic dictum at the time, it was enough to show that Russia was trying to explore the islands to find new points of cooperation with China.
In December 2023, Deputy Prime Minister Trutnev, in charge of the Far East Affairs, visited China and directly proposed to the Chinese side the establishment of a border port on the Black Blind Island.
After receiving the support of the Chinese side, people still told the Chinese Trutnev media that he would personally hand over the proposal to Putin himself, waiting for the Kremlin's final vote.
After the split into two, China has quickly launched a large number of infrastructure and ecological protection construction.
Earlier last year, during his visit to Khabarovsk (Berly), Putin listened specifically to reports of the city's comprehensive development plan, which clearly mentioned the construction of a new freight port on Black Blind Island.
For a head of state, this type of local planning can be mentioned in front, indicating that it is not a general matter, but a key aspect of the foreign strategy and the national development layout.
During Putin’s visit to China four months later, China and Russia specifically mentioned the Black Blind Island in a joint statement and signed the Black Blind Island Joint Protection and Development Plan.
In August of the same year, Russian Prime Minister Mishushkin visited China, and the two sides reiterated in the joint communiqué the importance of developing the Black Blind Island, and agreed to hold a working group meeting by the end of the year.
The signing of the roadmap today is the continuation of this series of diplomatic and governmental interactions, and also means that the consensus on paper really becomes a project that can actually land.
For Russia, this is an opportunity to activate the Far East using China's "living water"; for China, it is also a strategic choice to solidify its surroundings and expand the space for cooperation in a complex international environment.