03-31-2018, 05:14 PM
Quote:Were this a single isolated development, it might not be that
significant. But it comes on top of others that have sparked headlines
like “The Siberians Feel They are Losing Baikal to China” ([3]Regnum,
February 27), “Baikal: Appropriated by Bureaucrats and Seized by
China” ([4]Regnum, February 13), and “Russian Only for the Time Being:
China Takes Control of Baikal” ([5]Regnum, January 15). Thus, this
recent agricultural subsidies scandal could prove to be the straw that
broke the camel’s back. Notably, it links Russians’ anger at their own
government—as exemplified this week in the furious reaction to
official responses to the Kemerovo mall fire disaster (Meduza.io,
[6]March 26, [7]27; The Moscow Times, [8]March 27, [9]28)—with public
concern about what those same officials are allowing or even
encouraging China to do on Russian territory.
Chinese involvement in the Transbaikal and adjoining regions is most
obvious and has inspired most outrage in three inter-related areas.
First is the massive influx of tourists who often behave badly, use
only Chinese facilities and so bring little money to Russian firms,
and are hated by the local population. Second, Chinese citizens have
been buying up land on Lake Baikal that Russians are not allowed to
purchase as well as acquiring various Russian companies. All this has
been leading to an influx of Chinese permanent residents. And third,
the entirely illegal Chinese logging operations in the region are
being protected by Russian criminal groups and Russian officials
allied with them.
Chinese tourism is what the region’s Russians see most often and are
most appalled by. According to a poll conducted jointly by the Lake
Baikal Foundation and the NAFI Analysis Center, 79 percent of Russians
are concerned about the growth in the number of tourists, workers and
businessmen from China; 63 percent say that the Chinese violate
Russian environmental protections and other laws more often than
tourists from elsewhere; and 59 percent want the government to impose
strict limits on this influx of Chinese into their areas ([10]Regnum,
February 27). They believe that Moscow has failed to keep its promises
to protect Lake Baikal and their rights in its pursuit of money from
the Chinese (Regnum, [11]June 15, 2017; [12]June 16, 2017;
[13]February 13, 2018; [14]February 16, 2018).
The behavior of the Chinese tourists helps to explain why Russians
feel this way. According to local people, Chinese guides tell Chinese
tourists that “Baikal is China’s northern sea, that their ancestors
used to live there, and that the territory only belongs to Russia for
the time being. These guides also reportedly encourage Chinese
visitors to buy property and businesses in order to make money over
the next decade. Many are doing so, and that constitutes the second
challenge residents of the Transbaikal and other Russian regions in
the area see ([15]Babr24.com, January 12; Regnum, [16]December 12,
2017, [17]January 15, 2018).
In the words of one local, there are now so many Chinese businesses
that the “Chinese are everywhere. There are thousands of them. Thank
goodness there are not millions.” They violate laws with impunity,
locals allege; and they flaunt their power: One company even put up a
banner declaring that Baikal belonged to the Heavenly Kingdom 200
Years Ago.” Other local people are complaining that China is not
sending scholars but “only poorly raised tourists, purchasers of raw
materials, renters of enormous territories and purchasers” of
everything they can get their hands on ([18]Irk.ru, December 22,
2017).
https://jamestown.org/program/china-expa...rs-paying/
