For Immediate Release October 3, 2002

Who: Independent Federation of Chinese Students and Scholars in the U.S.

When: 10:00 AM, Friday, October 4, 2002

Where: Murrow Room, National Press Building, 529 14th Street NW, Washington DC

Featuring: Official statement from the President of IFCSS

An in-depth analysis of the significance of the secret treaty

Contact: Yi Danxuan (202) 347-0017

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Background Information on the Secret Border Treaty

According to People's Daily (Ren Min Ri Bao), Jiang Zemin and Yeltsin signed a treaty on December 9 and 10, 1999, regarding the disputed border issues between China and Russia on both east and west ends. However, just one sentence was found in that report regarding the content of this treaty.

As of today, Jiang Zemin has yet to make public the terms of the secret treaty he signed in 1999. Media recently reported that Jiang gave up most of the disputed land (96.5%) by signing another secret treaty with Tajikistan Republic in May 2002. We are gravely concerned about the terms of the treaty he signed back in 1999. Jiang has not made public of this treaty with Tajikistan, nor those with Kyrgyzstan or Kazakhstan.

The total disputed land between China and Russia is about 2.4 million square kilometers, out of which 1.9 million square kilometers has never been recognized by Chinese leadership in the past one and a half centuries.

According to China's law, as Chairman of China, Jiang is not allowed to sign any treaty regarding territorial boundaries without approval from the Standing Committee of National People's Congress. In addition, all legal treaties need to be registered with the United Nations. However, Jiang has not done it.

We hereby request Jiang, as he is coming to the United States later this month, to make public the terms of all Sino-Russian treaties he signed and explain to every Chinese citizen what happened to the land we inherited from our ancestors.