Tielieketi

Tielieketi (Chinese: 铁列克提) is a part of Yumin County in Xinjiang, the People's Republic of China, adjacent to the border with Kazakhstan.^[1]

Tielieketi Incident

There was a famous military incident (known in Soviet sources as the border conflict near the lake Zhalanashkol – Russian: пограничный конфликт у озера Жаланашколь) happened between China and Soviet Union during Sino-Soviet split in 1969. On August 13, 1969, when a Chinese frontier squadron composed of some 30 soldiers entered the Chinese border zone^{[clarification needed]}, the Soviet soldiers crossed the border to attack. The Soviets eliminated the Chinese patrol squadron, occupied^{[citation needed]} the Chinese border zone and killed totally 28^{[not in citation given]} Chinese soldiers.^[2][3]

Soviet sources claim that the Soviet border guard’s attack on the Chinese military of August 13 was triggered by a persistent violation of Soviet border by Chinese soldiers, which allegedly started at the previous night. The incident is described even as an arranged Maoist provocation like famous Zhenbao Island incident 5 months earlier. Chinese military unit which took part in the incident was allegedly equipped with photo and video recording devices, including a professional video camera.^[4] Also note that Zhalanashkol itself is situated [1] deeply inside (about 5 km / 3 miles) the territory of Kazakhstan (then a constituent part of the Soviet Union).

Returned to China

After the Soviet Union dissolved in 1990s, Tielieketi was administrated by Kazakhstan^{[citation needed]}. In 1999, China and Kazakhstan signed joint declaration^{[citation needed]} to resolve their long-term border issues, and Tielieketi was finally returned to China.

Reference

1. ^ Patrolling along borderline against wind
2. ^ The Sino-Soviet Border Clash of 1969
3. ^ The flawed architect
4. ^ Armed border conflict near the lake Zhalanashkol, August, 1969 (in Russian)