In September 2023, at the 8th Eastern Economic Forum, Russia once again deepened its confidence and conviction in the development of the Far East.

The Far East is a large part of the Russian territory, although it is one of the eight federal districts, but it has a land area of 6.21 million square kilometers, accounting for about 36% of the total land area of Russia.

The Far East is located in the eastern part of Russia, bordering the Pacific Ocean to the east and the Arctic Ocean to the north, bordering North Korea, China, Mongolia and other countries to the south, and adjacent to the Siberian Federal District to the west. Russia has always ignored the region for development.

It is worth mentioning that about one-third of Russia's Far East was ceded in the late Qing Dynasty through two unequal treaties, namely the Treaty of Aihui and the Treaty of Beijing between China and Russia.

It is for this reason that even though the Russian Far East is vast and sparsely populated, it is still on the lookout for our country, for fear that our country will invade and infiltrate the Far East. After all, the land they have taken by abnormal means will be somewhat guilty.

Until 10 years ago, in order to cope with the domestic economic dilemma, Russia began to shift its strategic vision from the west to the Far East, and since then it has put forward the grand strategy of "developing the Far East in the 21st century" to create a 7 million square meters super special economic zone.

The strategy behind developing the "Far East"
In the eyes of Russians, the Far East has long been a wilderness. In fact, this perception of Russians is understandable.

After all, on the one hand, the Far East is mountainous and mountainous, which is not suitable for urban construction and planning; At the same time, the climate in the Far East is cold and the winter is long, the winter in the Far East is up to 8 months every year, and the climate is about minus 50 degrees, which is indeed not suitable for human habitation.

Data show that when the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991, the population of the Far East was more than 9 million people, by the 2010 census, the region was only 6.3 million people, the population dropped by a third in 20 years, the per capita land area reached 9.5 square kilometers.

To know that the population base of more than 6 million is only equivalent to the population equivalent of a prefecture-level city in China.

In fact, since the Soviet era, Russia has had the idea of developing the Far East, but they are too big and the population is too small. Only about 140 million people live on an area of 17.09 million square kilometers.

To this end, the Soviet Union had to put forward a strategic plan for integration into the Eastern European plain. This operation has been going on for almost 100 years.

But in the eyes of Europeans, Russia's desire to join the European Union, partly because of differences in faith and partly because three-quarters of Russia is in Asia and only a quarter is in Europe, is ultimately fruitless.

Later, when Russia saw that it was hopeless to join the EU, it gave up its naive idea and had to export a lot of energy as a measure to earn the wealth of European countries. After all, Europe was much richer than Asia at that time.

In the 21st century, Western countries intensified sanctions on Russia, which made Russia somewhat unprepared for a time. At that time, Russia had the idea of developing the Far East, but its economic strength was limited and it was powerless.

In 2015, Russia proposed the strategy of "developing the Far East" at the first Eastern Economic Forum, and intends to invite China and other East Asian countries to develop it together.

You know, the Far East, although the climate is harsh, not very suitable for human habitation, but its underground hidden endless resources, some scholars infer that the Far East energy is as much as 25 trillion US dollars.

According to Russian statistics, the Russian Far East is home to the largest coal mines, tin mines and world-class large-scale polymetallic mines in the Asia-Pacific region.

It also holds 81% of the region's diamond reserves, 51% of its forest resources, 37% of its freshwater resources, 33% of its aquatic biological resources, 32% of its gold reserves, 27% of its natural gas reserves, and 17% of its oil reserves.

Some experts said that the Far East has huge oil and gas reserves, and is gradually forming a global petrochemical center, and the export volume of liquefied natural gas will account for 5% of the international market share in the future.

As for Russia's invitation, after weighing the advantages and disadvantages, the Chinese side finally reached a joint development willingness with the Russian side. After all, if we do not participate, Russia will invite Japan, South Korea or India to develop, which will do nothing to our country.