Chinese President Hu Jintao has arrived in Moscow for the first day of a three day state visit to Russia. So far, no real news, apart from the following, rather bland, statement that was handed (not even read out) to journalists shortly after his plane landed:
“I am certain this visit will give new momentum to the deepening of Russian-Chinese relations and to our practical cooperation in all spheres.”
Hu’s a media friendly leader, as you can tell.
As the trip develops, energy and trade are sure to be on the agenda, and I’d imagine that, when Putin and Hu meet, they’ll spend a fair amount of time discussing the state of the word today, and how they can enhance their respective positions.
I wonder if they’ll also discuss the flow of Chinese migrants to Siberia and Russia’s Far East?
March 27th, 2007 at 3:53 am
Andy:
How great a flow is it? Is the issue a bit on the sensational side?
March 27th, 2007 at 4:48 am
How great a flow is it?
Great enough for the authorities in Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk to attempt a reversal by booting out all the Chinese traders, leaving a lot of us wondering where we are going to buy stuff from now on.
March 27th, 2007 at 8:05 am
Hard to say exactly how many Chinese are in Russia today, given that most of them are probably there illegally.
The 2002 census showed just over 30,000 Chinese living in Russia, but I would imagine that most people who were living there illegally just didn’t answer any questions from census takers.
Other estimates of the Chinese population in Russia vary, from 680,000 to (at the more sensationalist end of the scale) over 3.25 million.
Even if the lower of these two figures is correct, it would still represent a massive increase in the number of Chinese living in Russia over the past 10-20 years.
There is also certainly a lot of fear among Russians - particularly in Siberia and the Far East - about the immigration of Chinese. Some is unfounded - and, frankly, racist - while some has a rather better foundation.
It’s certainly, to my mind, a major up and coming issue. As Russia’s population declines (or, at very best, remains stable) the population of Chinese in Russia is almost certain to increase rapidly, and eventually, they will become one of, if not the largest minority group in many areas.
Chinese immigrants do bring some economic benefit to the region, but many also bring additional crime with them.
Thinking more strategically, however,if many Chinese immigrants are in Russia illegally, and owe absolutely no allegiance to the Russian state, this is going to cause major problems for Russia in its future attempts to impose law and order on its more remote regions.
March 27th, 2007 at 8:19 am
Lads - a story a heard from a woman who knows a border guard on the Amur River is so mad its hard to know if its true. Seemingly the border is so big and difficult to manage that large areas are only examined and manned at certain times of the year. So what happens is the guards check an area, see there’s no one there and leave to check somewhere else(this is the wilds I’m talking about now). They come back six months later to find wooden houses built and populated by the Chinese, well inside Russian territory! Of course, the Chinese havent a word of Russian on questioning(whether they speak Russian or not is another matter) and the Russians are forced to try to repatriate them. Fun and games eh?
March 27th, 2007 at 9:57 am
It’s certainly, to my mind, a major up and coming issue.
Mass Chinese infiltration of Siberia has been an issue since Tsarist times.
March 27th, 2007 at 10:45 am
Interesting discussion which relates well to the US border with Mexico and the Serb one with Albania.
BTW, it’s BS that much of the involved territory once belonged to China. When you exclude the idea of China not being a successor to the Mongol Empire, that point becomes even less. Even with it, we’re talking about a relatively thin strip along the current border.
At present, China has other seemingly more pressing concerns like Taiwan and a simultaneously peaceful yet tense situation in Tibet. There’s at least one other area as well to add.
It’s a long way off of the American southwest being challenged by a move to bring it back into Mexico. Russia and China do have common interests. Off hand, I believe that they (not too long ago) made a formal agreement in recognizing the existing boundary. Of course, such an agreement isn’t etched in stone. At the same time, to have such an agreement reached does reflect a peaceful spirit between the two.
March 27th, 2007 at 2:08 pm
The Chinese Immigration Experience in Russia