China opens its part of Bolshoi Ussuriisky Island for tourism

BEIJING, July 20 (Itar-Tass) -- China opened officially its part of
the Bolshoi Ussuriisky Island on the Amur River for tourist trips. The
first group of 150 tourists from China arrived on the island on Wednesday
morning, the Xinhua news agency reported. The island was divided between
Russia and China after the complete border demarcation between the
countries under the treaty in 2008.
On Tuesday, the authorities in the north-eastern Chinese border
province Heilongjiang announced that they had launched a border
checkpoint, at which all visitors to the island are to pass a special
security check-up. Chinese citizens need a special permit, which is issued
by the border service in the Fuyuan Province, to visit the island.
On October 14, 2008, Russia and China have completed the border
demarcation on the Bolshoi Ussuriisky and Tarabarov islands near
Khabarovsk. Under the intergovernmental agreement the Tarabarov Island
became China's Yinlong Dao and Bolshoi Ussuriisky was divided into two
parts. Its western part, which was passed to China, is called Heixiazi
now. Its eastern part belongs to Russia.
Currently China is creating actively the tourist infrastructure of its
part of the island. China is considering various variants for the use of
this territory. China is planning to build a 35-kilometer-long ring road
and to create a free trade zone and to build an airport. Meanwhile, the
Heilongjiang authorities noted that the environmental protection will be
prioritized in the development of a tourist zone.