‘Many Chinese people don’t want to take root in Russia, but are keeping private business on a short-term basis. In order to do this it is necessary to have a registration, [but] some Russian departments are creating artificial barriers’ to their obtaining one, he said. Although he acknowledged that many Chinese citizens claim on their visas that they want to visit Russia for educational purposes but really intend to engage in private commerce, Hanhui said China doesn’t consider them as illegal immigrants.
Since the Russian government enforces strict limits on the number of visas issued to foreigners, even Chinese sources acknowledge that most Chinese working in the Russian Far East actually do so illegally. One reason doing so is attractive is that Chinese citizens doing business in Russia without the proper visas usually by their very nature won’t pay taxes on their illegal earnings. But for those that do come illegally, their irregular status makes them vulnerable to extortion and blackmail from corrupt Russian officials, while Chinese labourers often become the targets of Russian criminal gangs, whose members know that their Chinese victims will avoid appealing to Russian law enforcement agencies for protection.
But such problems come with some potential solutions, given official will. One option open to Russian authorities would be to actually allow more Chinese to enter Russia legally, therefore reducing opportunities for profitable criminal activities. More Chinese workers in the Russian Far East would also open up the possibility of more (and more affordable) services to the region’s Russian inhabitants, as well as increasing price competition among the Chinese providing services in Russia.
Such proposals typically meet with vociferous local opposition, with many Russians fearing the increased competition from Chinese labourers and retailers will hurt the employment prospects of the native Russian community (indeed, Russian trade unions have already complained that Chinese migrant workers are taking jobs that should go to ethnic Russians).
But the problems with reconciling the two sides also go deeper. Many Russians oppose allowing more Chinese to reside in Russia on nothing more than racial grounds, irrespective of economic considerations. Such suspicions of ‘otherness’ are only exacerbated by events like last month’s toxic chemical incident, which in turn make it easier for sceptics, fairly or not, to raise the spectre of threats to national security.
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Singh
You can’t blame the Russians (or anyone else) fearing that that parts of their land could eventually be taken over by another nationality who has it’s ultimate allegiance to another country. Russians living in the far east of their country are fast being outnumbered by the Chinese in their own land! The Russian government needs to fix this difficult problem, especially with the additional issue of falling Russian birth rates. The other reality is that eventually the Chinese will control the Russian far east. This is not a racist opinion since along with economic progress, the Chinese are becoming more belligerant by the day. Just ask all the countries that border China! The Russian government must act fast to solve this problem.
SE962582C
The same thing and THE SAME THING can be or could be said about the Ethnic Indians and Hindustanis in both Malaya-Malaysia and in Singapore, as well as in the Cities of the Shah Alam and of Kuala-Lumpur; together with that at the City of Suva, upon the Island of Fiji and upon the Fiji Islands.
SE962582C
To quote quote ” … . The Russian government must act fast to solve this problem.” and unquote.
The Malayan-Malaysian and the Singaporean “HINDRAF” Terrorists come to mind.
I and one would advise instead the Singaporean, the Malayan-Malaysian and the Fijian Islander States, Governments and Peoples to quote “to do the same as well” and unquote.
johnson
I think the article is arguing that economic concerns should take greater precedence than racial concerns. The writer seems to be aware that national character is a concern among Russians and Chinese, and is arguing that they have mis-prioritized.
John
“But the problems with reconciling the two sides also go deeper. Many Russians oppose allowing more Chinese to reside in Russia on nothing more than racial grounds, irrespective of economic considerations. ”
As both Russia and China, to some extent, define themselves nationally, in the classical sense of ‘a national people’, how are racial, meaning, ancestral, ethnic, or national grounds “nothing” of importance? Obviously if too many Han Chinese move to Russia, the national character will no longer be Russian, which is the concern.