In recent years, because of the deterioration of Sino-US relations, the United States has established a complete and intensive strategic and military blockade network in the surrounding areas, and now the United States has sailed aircraft carriers to the South China Sea and laid their military bases to China's "doorstep."
There is no doubt that the actions of the United States will pose a huge threat to our national defense, after all, the US military is certainly not a "party" when cruising around our country, and under such circumstances, we have also thought of many ways to break through the US blockade.
If it is not possible, China's foreign lines may be blocked by the United States. However, in a short period of time, the comprehensive strength of the PLA Navy will definitely not be able to catch up with the US military, so there is actually another option to break the deadlock, such as looking for an outlet to the sea in the Pacific Ocean.
At present, the blockade imposed by the United States on our side is mainly concentrated in the vicinity of our country, while the blockade density in the Pacific region is relatively low, so as long as we can obtain new outlets to the sea in the Pacific region, we can indeed effectively break the blockade.
And historically, we did have access to the Pacific Ocean.
In the Qing Dynasty, our side had controlled the Outer Northeast for a long time, and if it were not for the Qing Dynasty at that time to cede the Outer Northeast to Tsarist Russia, it would be quite difficult for the United States to block China's coastline so easily.
Moreover, there are indeed ports on our northern borders, especially in the Tumen River region, that lead directly to the Pacific Ocean.
It is only 15 kilometers from the Tumen River to the mouth of the Pacific Ocean, and if the Tumen River route can be successfully opened, it will bring huge economic and political benefits to China. But unfortunately, it is Russia and North Korea that control this place now, and if we want to open up this outlet to the sea, I am afraid there are only two options.
The first option is "land exchange". To put it simply, it is to replace the access to the Pacific Ocean from North Korea and Russia with land in other border areas. This is indeed possible, and historically it has been common for countries to replace small portions of territory for their own needs.
Before the outbreak of the Soviet-Finnish War, the Soviet Union also tried to use the territory of the Arctic Circle to replace part of the territory of Finland, so as to obtain a buffer zone for Leningrad (St. Petersburg), an important seaport city of the Soviet Union at that time, so as to ensure the security of the strategic city.
Unfortunately, if this is implemented in reality, there are many dilemmas.
For our country, the strategy that has been implemented is that "not an inch of territory should be missing". In such a situation, if you want to replace land with Russia or North Korea, it is indeed likely to touch the nerves and even cause some unnecessary repercussions.
Moreover, China and Russia have signed a border demarcation agreement, which clearly demarcates the border between China and Russia. If the two sides want to change the land, it means that the demarcation agreement will be broken to some extent, and the two countries will have to sign a new agreement, which is very difficult politically and diplomatically.
And this problem is the same as with North Korea. Fortunately, in addition to replacing land, there is a second way to open up the Tumen River – by building a new bridge over the river.
Seeing this, some people may wonder, why can building a bridge solve the problem? In fact, the Tumen River route cannot be opened now, mainly because there is a cross-river bridge connecting North Korea and Russia on the route.
However, this bridge also has a history, and when it was built, it was not considered to allow large ships to pass through, so the existence of this bridge affects the commercial and economic value of the Tumen River today.
If you can persuade Russia and North Korea, let them try to tear down the bridge, and then provide them with infrastructure.
The level of our infrastructure has always been favored by both countries - with China's help, it is possible to build a new bridge that is taller and larger, and does not affect the navigation of large ships.
The existence of the new bridge can not only help North Korea and Russia strengthen ground ties, but also avoid the geographical impact of the bridge on the Tumen River route, but this plan also has some problems.
That is, this bridge is built on the territory of Russia and North Korea, not that we can demolish it if we want to, if we want to demolish this bridge, we must reach an agreement with North Korea and Russia at the same time, and they must also apply to China for construction assistance before we can enter the site to repair the bridge.
Moreover, after the repair, we still have to sign an agreement with North Korea and Russia at the same time, so that they can completely open the Tumen River route to our side, but this is also relatively difficult and complicated diplomatic work.
In the past few decades, China has also been considering the issue of the Tumen River route, if this route can be opened, it can indeed bring a lot of benefits, but it is not easy to really open up this route, there are too many factors to consider, so there has been no progress.
However, with the changes in the international situation, some of the conditions for opening up the Tumen River route are now relatively mature.
First of all, the diplomatic relations between China and Russia and China and the DPRK have developed upwards as a whole, Russia has opened the Far East to China, allowing Chinese enterprises to enter the Far East for development, and the Tumen River route itself is also in the Far East.
In such a situation, the political conditions for the development of the Tumen River route are relatively mature, but in the process of specific operation, there will definitely be many problems, which require the efforts of our country.
In fact, if there is room for operation, I still want to see the day when the Tumen River route is opened, after all, it is beneficial to China.
I also hope that Russia and the DPRK can consider a cooperation plan, which is not a bad thing for them, after all, in the current international situation, China, Russia, and the DPRK are indeed important partners at the international strategic level.