People's Liberation Army joins ranks of growing number of Chinese organizations in Central Asia, 17 May 2013
Quote from the article:
"However, the Chinese claimed large areas of what is today Tajikistan in the early 1800's and have all but forgotten their assertions. In 2011, Tajikistan ceded 1,000 square kilometers of land to the People's Republic in order to partially pay off debt owed to Beijing. China's original claims of 11,000 square kilometers are much larger than what was ultimately handed over and include the city of Murghab. It should be noted that according to Russian "Pravda", China has land claims against 20 of its neighbors.
Even if China were to never have pushed claims against the country, it would still have quite an interest in Eastern Tajikistan and the city of Murghab, the area is rich in gold deposits and several years ago, landmark oil and gas reserves were discovered in both Tajikistan and Afghanistan which also has had Chinese land claims pressed against it"
Quote from the article:
"However, the Chinese claimed large areas of what is today Tajikistan in the early 1800's and have all but forgotten their assertions. In 2011, Tajikistan ceded 1,000 square kilometers of land to the People's Republic in order to partially pay off debt owed to Beijing. China's original claims of 11,000 square kilometers are much larger than what was ultimately handed over and include the city of Murghab. It should be noted that according to Russian "Pravda", China has land claims against 20 of its neighbors.
Even if China were to never have pushed claims against the country, it would still have quite an interest in Eastern Tajikistan and the city of Murghab, the area is rich in gold deposits and several years ago, landmark oil and gas reserves were discovered in both Tajikistan and Afghanistan which also has had Chinese land claims pressed against it"