In the backdrop of an apparent cozying up of Russia-China relations, the idea of some near-bankruptcy Russian farms to rely on Chinese labor immigrants has stirred controversy. Today’s page one from the Wall Street Journal:
When Vladimir Shiryaev bought Ayatskoye, a near-bankrupt farm in the Urals, in 2000, he wondered how he would ever get the harvest in. Most of the local labor force was either too old or too drunk to work.
So he sought rescue from a group of Chinese laborers, led by a woman from Inner Mongolia named Meng Dani. He leased them about 50 acres, and within a few months they were growing tomatoes and cabbages on land that had stood untilled for years.
But among many natives here in Russia’s heartland, the idea has proved controversial. “Those farmers are a landing force,” says Igor Vyaginsky, a crew-cut local activist from the Movement Against Illegal Immigration with a penchant for military terminology. “They’ll establish a bridgehead and then spread out. We could end up losing our territory.”
Back in the Chinese colony, Ms. Meng sat in her chilly hut, decorated only with a map of Russia — in Chinese. To her, Russia is a vast country with a lot of empty territory: If no one else is farming it, why shouldn’t she? “I feel so sorry for the land,” she said. “There’s so much of it, and so little of it is used.” Back in her hometown, Hailar, in Inner Mongolia, there’s “little land, a lot of people, and no work.” [Full Text, subscribers only]
