Russia fulfills her century-long desire to become…

Russia fulfills her century-long desire to become a naval power in the Pacific by establishing naval outposts near the River Amur watershed, encouraging Russians to go and settle, and slowly developing a strong military presence in the region.

China has never really governed the region effectively, and these Russian advances went unnoticed.

Russia is strong by the latter half of the nineteenth century, and China has weakened enough to consider seriously the annexation of the Amur territories to the Russian crown.

The Chinese estimates of the strength of the Russians, particularly with regard to their military, are grossly exaggerated.

When official protests from Beijing go unheeded and the Russian representative, Nikolay Muravyov, threatens China with war, the Qing Dynasty agrees to enter negotiation with Russia.

The result, the 1858 Treaty of Aigun, signed on May 28, extends Russian trading rights and establishes the modern borders of the Russian Far East, but is never approved by the Xianfeng Emperor.