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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.