Yu. GALENOVICH, Doctor of Historical Sciences By agreement between the heads of the Russian Federation and the People's Republic of China, 2006 was declared the Year of Russia in China, and 2007 - the Year of China in Russia. One might wonder: why did our two countries need to get to know each other again? Obviously, because the twentieth century was not easy in their relationship. For forty years, from the 1920s to the 1950s, history has developed in such a way that, based on mutual national interests, we have helped each other as an ally to an ally. We then had a common military enemy - Japan. We sympathized with and helped unite China into a single state. We were together during the reconstruction of the farm after the end of the Second World War. We have been "comrades in the revolution", allies and friends for many years. But those harsh years are gone. They were replaced by other difficult forty years-the 1960s and 1990s. There had been thirty years of confrontation, even hostility. We drifted away, became strangers. In any case, alienation in practice began and continued exactly then. In the late 1980s, we normalized relations, including between the ruling parties. But in the 1990s, we went our separate ways again. On this path, societies in Russia and China have become different than in the days of our friendship. YOU CAN'T CHANGE YOUR PLACE OF RESIDENCE In a word, we have come to the beginning of the twenty-first century, in fact, as strangers, as strangers, each of whom has his own path. But we need to live close by. We are eternal neighbors, and the place of residence cannot be changed. Therefore, at the beginning of this century, our authorities came to the conclusion that we need to get acquainted anew and establish bilateral relations. Moscow and Beijing have again signed an agreement on good-neighborly relations, friendship and cooperation. Finally, after forty years of negotiations, the parties have finalized agreements on the entire border line betw ... Read more