Migration Patterns between the Russian Far East and China’s Northeast: Lessons from Experience and Plans for the Future

Abstract

The Russian Far East (RFE) is a vast territory with land borders with the People’s Republic of China (PRC) and North Korea and water borders with several other APEC countries. Presently it comprises 36% of the territory of the Russian Federation but only 5% of its population (around 6.5 million). From 1991 to the present the population has steadily declined, and attempts to reverse the trend have not been successful. Bordering the RFE are three northeastern provinces of the PRC with a total population of 106 million. During the Cold War years, the Russian-Chinese border was “sealed shut” to migration, and sporadic economic and political exchanges initiated in Moscow and Beijing did not have any lasting impact on the neighboring areas. After the fall of the Soviet Union, restrictions on trade were lifted and the borders were open for “tourism” – a word which carried much deeper connotations in the early 1990s. This period of visa-free travel was marked by skyrocketing numbers of travelers from the PRC’s neighboring provinces resettling, often illegally, in the RFE. The issue became politically charged and new migration policies were haphazardly designed. An increasing number of Russian university students were going to China to study, and many stayed there, also often illegally, as there were few opportunities at home at the time. In the early 2000s the trend has once again intensified. The RFE remains an economically depressed region and the central government’s efforts at reviving its economy are now combined with stimulating intra-state migration. Deepening economic and social ties between RFE and its East Asian neighbors require comprehensive up-to-date migration policies which are still in their early stages of development.

Keywords

• Russian Far East
• PRC Northeast
• migration policies
• adaptation