Cest la vie

There is a thinking amidst certain cognoscenti in the West that Russia's vastness is such that it is becoming a trial and a tribulation for the Kremlin to hold onto all its 11 time zones that are formally within its grasp today, 2015.

However, the Kremlin simply does not have the population-base-on-the-ground to support the claim of national title over its entire extent.

In the North and East of China:

are vast tracts of Imperial China that was seized by the Czars.

To the north of China, these Russian lands are very underpopulated.

There are two major cities on the the Russian side of the border in the extreme North East of the Russian border with China. One of them is Vladivostok. 

The economic way of life of these two cities are completely integrated with China's.

There is really nothing for China to do but to wait for the time when it will be the time for the plum to fall back on its lap. 

Nothing can change the inevitable.