Russia – China Border | Russian Far East Issue ?

The Russian Far East is a huge area of northeastern Eurasia stretching from Euro Russia to the Pacific Ocean. Allowing Russia direct access to the Asia-Pacific region, the RFE makes it a truly transcontinental nation. The RFE contains all kinds of natural treasures — oil and natural gas, iron ore and copper, diamonds and gold, pristine fresh water, timber and fish stocks The Sino-Russian border dynamic in the Far East have received relatively little attention in the past decade, even though it has the potential to be a hotbed for tensions between the two geopolitical giants. The Chinese are invading Russia — not with tanks, but with suitcases. There are 1.5 million people from China have illegally entered the Russian Far East over the past year. It’s impossible to know the exact level of Chinese migration into the Russian Far East. But by all indications, a significant river of people is surging across the border. Regardless, people fears a flood and the Chinese could become the dominant ethnic group in the Russian Far East in 20 to 30 years. There are reasons to believe that the flow will hit these levels, with at least tacit help from Beijing. The Russian Far East is becoming China’s safety valve, much like Mexico lets off population pressures with migration into the United States. China’s population is about 10 times that of Russia. The population of the RFE is only a little more than 6 million – with only less than one person per square kilometer. Furthermore, the population in this region is in decline due to low birth rates and migration to other regions of Russia where living and working conditions are better. But Moscow will not simply let the region slip through its fingers. The local Russian population is increasingly nervous. 5 million Russians from European Russia are relocated to the Far East. Police in Russian cities are responding with aggressive ethnic profiling. Law enforcement personnel check the documentation of foreigners, and they actively target ethnic Asians. The policy results from a widespread feeling that China is the source of undesirable immigration. Now, the issue of the Chinese in the RFE is definitely manageable, but only if Russia is able to attract more Russians to the region. If not, then the growing Chinese presence may become a geopolitical bomb.