evidence: Bolshoi Ussuriysky Island (Russian: Большо́й Уссури́йский о́стров, romanized: Bol'shoy Ussuriyskiy Ostrov), or Heixiazi Island (simplified Chinese: 黑瞎子岛; traditional Chinese: 黑瞎子島; pinyin: Hēixiāzi Dǎo; lit. 'black bear island'[lower-alpha 1]), is a sedimentary island at the confluence of the Ussuri and Amur rivers. Since the Sino-Russian Border Agreement that was fully implemented in 2008, Bolshoy Ussuriysky Island was divided between China and Russia. China was given control over part of the island, and Russia retained the rest. Since then, the issue has been peacefully settled, and China no longer claims the entire island. It has an area of about 327 to 350 km2 and is bounded closely by Yinlong/Tarabarov Island, and over 90 islets.[lower-alpha 2] Its position at the confluence of the Amur and the Ussuri, and right next to the major Russian city of Khabarovsk, has given it great strategic importance. [...] The difficulty in settling this dispute involved competing interests between Russia and China. To settle the boundary along the lines claimed by China would have subjected settled parts of the city of Khabarovsk to the range of artillery emplaced on Heixiazi. However, by occupying the entire island, Russia controlled the entire Amur and Ussuri waterway and gave Khabarovsk a comfortable buffer zone. During its control of the island, Russia refused navigational access to the Amur and Ussuri to Chinese ships.[1]