Border incidents between the USSR and China on the Ussuri River: China, with 30 soldiers, occupies an uninhabited but disputed island (Chen Pao to the Chinese, Damanski to the Russians) on the Ussuri River in Manchuria, only 2 km long; the island shifted position after a flood. The Soviets send a task force to investigate and are killed; they also lose a brand-new tank model that must be recovered. The Soviets react brutally, raining down fire on the island and the entire Chinese bank, resulting in hundreds of Chinese casualties from artillery bombardment. The Russians also use the new “Hailstorm” weapon, which fires 700 small rockets simultaneously. The valuable tank is moved onto the frozen Ussuri River by a Chinese crane, where the ice breaks, and the tank ends up at the bottom of the river. The island will remain a no-man’s land for 20 years, until Gorbachev intervenes and declares it Chinese. The question of the territories north of the Amur and Ussuri Rivers remains completely open: the Chinese in Manchuria have 80 million people pressing against the border, the Russians in the entire Russian Far East have 8 million people.
