WHAT DOES IT PROMISE OUR COUNTRY

V. G. GELBRAS

Doctor of Historical Sciences

Institute of Asian and African Studies, Lomonosov Moscow State University

Keywords: China, Trans-Baikal Territory, labor migration, forest resources, environmental protection measures, quality of fertilizers and pesticides, Russian farming

Two initial circumstances served as an incentive for the preparation of this article. First, the conclusions obtained by the author during the first mass questionnaire surveys of Chinese migrants in Russia, conducted in the early 2000s; their results are published ¹. Second, a number of my observations of Chinese migration in recent years.

Studies conducted at the turn of the 2000s made it possible to determine the main features of Chinese migration to Russia, in particular, its main "specialization" - trade. The following years were marked by important changes in this "specialization". The main change was the spread of Chinese migrants in the Russian agricultural sector. They have appeared almost all over Siberia and the Far East and even beyond their borders, which was not the case in the past. Russia has also changed over the years. The country has entered a crisis period of forced import substitution. This period, as it was not difficult to expect, turned out to be difficult, and most importantly-devoid of a revival strategy. Although in the future, new development horizons may open up, including in agriculture. But only if import substitution is accompanied by the use of new economic and technological innovation levers, as well as the formation of new economic and social relations.

GO OUTSIDE STRATEGY

In recent decades, Chinese businesses and Chinese migrants have emerged in this important industry. On the Chinese side, the main political driver of the process was the strategy "Go outside!" (jou chu qu), which provides, in particular, for the export of capital. Thus, in 2009 alone, 12,000 new investors appeared in the PRC.² And among them there are many entrepreneurs, firms and companies engaged in agricultural production in Russia.

On November 18, 2014, the State Development and Reform Commission of the People's Republic of China published a new list of recommended investments abroad that do not require special approval. Now, more than 90% of investment projects abroad may not get permission from the central authorities at all - the consent of local officials is enough.

There is no exact data on the number of Chinese entrepreneurs in Russia. The head of the Federal Migration Service of the Russian Federation, Konstantin Romodanovsky, commenting on rumors about the possible transfer of land in Transbaikalia to the PRC on a long-term basis, said that there is no Chinese expansion in Russia at all.⁵

However, in Russian agriculture, entrepreneurs from China use Chinese labor, Chinese seeds, their own tools, film, fertilizers and pesticides. Until recently, this migration of capital and labor, in general, was of a recurrent nature. That is, in accordance with the seasonal nature of production, after the completion of the work, the aliens left for China, burying film, greenhouse remnants, remaining seeds, fertilizers and pesticides at the site of work.

The People's Daily newspaper writes: "Chinese vegetable growers work not only in the north-

in some regions of Russia, but almost everywhere. Chinese vegetable growers work on the outskirts of almost all cities along the Baikal-Amur Mainline. Some Chinese have leased land plots from Russian owners, and invited Chinese farmers and specialists to work through various channels. " ⁷¹

In Russia, for more than 20 years, land has been leased to Chinese entrepreneurs. The leaders of a number of territories, oblasts and districts, instead of independent, creative search for ways and forms of agricultural production development, prefer to lease land to the Chinese. Often these actions are justified by the depressive nature of a particular region. For example, in the Jewish Autonomous Region, this practice has been going on for more than two decades.

In 2010, according to press reports, the scale of Chinese leases in the Far Eastern Federal District (FEFD) reached 426 thousand ha5. Only residents of the city of Dunin rent 150 thousand hectares ⁱⁿ Russia6.

The Chinese fertilizers and pesticides used in Russia and very specific agronomy make it possible to accelerate the maturation of crops and increase yields. However, at the same time, the fertile soil layer is completely destroyed, and the land quickly turns to dust. But the revival of fertility requires a long time and considerable investment.

N. M. Mironov, General Director of the Institute of Priority Regional Projects (Moscow):: "Problems with Chinese agricultural producers have been recorded in many regions, including the Krasnoyarsk Territory, Khakassia, Irkutsk Region, Primorsky Territory, Novosibirsk Region, Volgograd Region and others. This includes the use of banned chemicals imported illegally, and exceeding the maximum permissible concentration (MPC) of harmful substances in products and soil. " ⁷

And then: "In the Krasnoyarsk Territory, arsenic, fluorine and benzopyrene, which is, by the way, a powerful carcinogen for humans and animals, were repeatedly exceeded in the fields where the Chinese worked. All this not only harms people's health, but also permanently removes land from circulation. Nothing can be grown on them anymore, we risk getting vacant lots." "In the Irkutsk region, an excess of the so - called nitrite nitrogen was found, in the Primorsky Territory-a multiple excess of the content of pesticides in the soil. In the Novosibirsk region, Rosselkhoznadzor-supervision revealed the complete destruction of the fertile soil layer by the Chinese, found an increased content of pesticides and chlorothalonyl. In Khakassia - an increase in the concentration of arsenic, fluorine and nitrogen nitrates. Criminal cases were initiated, including for damage to land under Article 254 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation ... " ^X.

On Sakhalin, the FSB participated in the inspections. It found that a number of chemicals seized from Chinese farmers are prohibited for use even in the territory of the PRC. So, smoke bombs for fumigating plants for pest control, according to experts, cause lung cancer, and the so-called "growth enhancers", which allow you to shoot 10-12 harvests of some crops during the Sakhalin summer, can cause mutational changes in the body of animals and humans.⁹

The Chinese also make extensive use of genetically modified vegetable seeds. According to expert estimates, the land where chemicals and pesticides banned in the Russian Federation were used became unsuitable for growing agricultural products for 70-100 years. There are many similar examples.

Head of the Land Control Department of the Rosselkhoznadzor Administration for the Primorsky Territory and Sakhalin Region Yu. Lakiza claims that 98% of the fertilizers used by the Chinese enter the territory of the Russian Federation illegally. Our specialists are not able to determine their composition immediately. We receive pesticides with names unknown in Russia, which are not allowed for use and often expired. In 2014 alone, several tens of thousands of tons of Chinese pesticides and agrochemicals that do not have state registration and are not included in the State Catalog as approved for use in the Russian Federation were seized in Primorsky Krai. But even more of them get into the soil. Rosselkhoznadzor issues fines and orders to Chinese land tenants to eliminate violations, but no one fulfills them10...

In 2011, the Expert Department of the Presidential Administration held a meeting on land leases by the Chinese in various regions of the country, but it ended in virtually nothing... Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Dvorkovich, who was presiding, asked the audience a rhetorical question :" What are we going to do?.." On the proposal to prohibit the governors to lease land to the Chinese and take the appropriate government decision A. Dvorkovich shrugged and asked: "On what grounds? What will we feed people then?.. " ¹¹.

"WHAT ARE WE GOING TO DO?"

Five years have passed, but the who is still there.

Since 2001, foreigners abroad-

they hated buying land in Russia. However, currently, according to Rosre-estr, about 12 million hectares are used by foreign citizens or companies. About a fifth of them are owned, and the rest is leased.¹² According to the Governor of the Jewish Autonomous Region (YEL), A. B. Levintal, "... 80% of agricultural land in the region is already controlled by the Chinese, legally, illegally, in various ways. " ¹⁵ According to Alexey Guskov, Chairman of the Supervisory Board of the Union of Land Managers of Russia and a member of the Scientific Advisory Council of the Public Chamber of the Russian Federation, two years ago at least half of arable land - about 100 thousand hectares - was cultivated by Chinese companies. They rented the land for 3-5 years, but abandoned it after a year or two - during this time it fell into disrepair ^1 A.

The Chinese imported their genetically modified seeds and collected impressive yields - 25 tons of soybeans per hectare: ours did not even collect half of this crop. The Chinese sold this soy in Russia, used the money they received to buy our "pure" soy and took it back to their country. "The land left (or rather, poisoned) by them," writes A. E. Guskov, " can not be returned to circulation later - nothing grows on it."..

The Chinese really need Russian land. After large-scale forest fires in Khakassia in 2015, the Chinese authorities proposed to relocate the population of the region affected by the fire to the new city of Yingkou in China. In return, Beijing would like to lease the burned-out area for 25 years. Residents of Primorye affected by the flood were also offered to populate Yinkou. Housing in this city was built, but never settled ... ¹⁵

Until recently, the main attention in Russia was paid only to the negative effects of Chinese farming on land. In fact, the negative consequences are much more serious. In the Berezovsky district of the Krasnodar Territory, a correspondent of the newspaper Russkaya Planeta submitted cucumbers and tomatoes purchased from a Chinese farm for analysis to a biochemical laboratory. It turned out that the nitrate content in tomatoes exceeded the maximum permissible concentration by 4 times, in cucumbers-by 9 times!

In all the vegetables studied, one of the extremely harmful substances was found, the content of which is three times higher than the norm. In cucumbers found benzopyrene, which should not be there at all. It is a first-class carcinogen that destroys bones and liver, causing malignant tumors. Arsenic and fluoride were found in tomatoes in an amount twice the maximum permissible concentration. These toxic substances destroy the human body. Unknown chemicals were also found - the laboratory was unable to determine their composition and degree of harmfulness.¹⁶

A Chinese-Russian cattle breeding complex is being built in Mu-danjiang, Hei-Longjiang province, China. 100 thousand cows are planned to be kept on Chinese territory, and feed production will be concentrated on Russian territory. The project provides for leasing hundreds of thousands of hectares of Russian land to the Chinese. Finished products-milk-will be delivered to Russia ¹⁷. It turns out that the added value will be obtained on the territory of the PRC, and Russia will become a supplier of raw materials, which is economically unprofitable. There are also questions about the quality of Chinese products.

The government of Luning County and Mudanjiang City leases 150 thousand hectares of arable land in the Russian Far East ¹⁸. This territory - 1.5 thousand square kilometers - is almost one and a half times larger than the area of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (SAR) - 1.092 square kilometers.Land lease in Transbaikalia is another Hong Kong SAR. Do local authorities draw conclusions from the experience of Chinese farmers in their territories? Yes, there aren't many such examples, but they do exist.

KRASNODAR AND TRANS-BAIKAL TERRITORIES: ONE PROBLEM -TWO SOLUTIONS

In the Krasnodar Region, the Chinese have withdrawn large areas of land from agricultural use. Migrants were ordered to eliminate violations, but those orders were ignored by the authorities. According to the former governor of the region, now the Minister of Agriculture of the Russian Federation A. N. Tkachev, the results of the inspections were shocking. "In practice, Chinese farmers simply poisoned our land and water, produced vegetables that were dangerous to people's health. Only in one of the districts of the region, 40 thousand square meters of toxic Chinese greenhouses were identified."

And for 3 years now, they have stopped using the services of the Chinese here. Specialists of the regional Rosselkhoznadzor checked the condition of more than 4 thousand hectares, where Chinese greenhouses were located. 100 hectares were so polluted that it is now dangerous to grow anything at all on them ¹⁹. Arsenic, fluorine, and benzapyr-nu exceeded the established standards (in some places - by 50 times!). Now in the Krasnodar Territory, Chinese citizens are generally forbidden to conduct any agricultural activities.

Taking this experience into account, the Ministry of Agriculture of the Russian Federation-

The Supreme Administrative Court of the Russian Federation has introduced strict restrictions for foreigners to rent agricultural land; in particular, the lease terms have been reduced from 49 to 3 - ¹⁰ years20.

The opposite example can be cited from the practice of the Trans-Baikal Territory, whose management offered the Chinese company Niae Xingbang for "ridiculous money" to rent 115 thousand rubles for 49 years. ha of borderlands. Deputy Chairman of the State Duma Committee on Economic Policy, Innovative Development and Entrepreneurship N. V. Arefyev sent an official letter to the Prosecutor General of Russia with a request to check the actions of officials who made the decision to lease these lands to the detriment of the country's interests. ²¹ According to his calculations, from an economic point of view, renting farmland for half a century, taking into account the current ruble/yuan exchange rate and the complete impossibility of determining it for decades to come, is completely meaningless.

It is not without interest that the same Xingbang Research Institute tried to get land in the Lemarsky Reserve of Transbaikalia for the construction of a pulp and paper mill back in 2004. At the same time, almost half of the adjacent taiga massifs - according to various sources, from 2 to 4 million hectares - were to be leased to the Chinese as a raw material base ^by 201622.

What does it mean? This means cutting down thousands of hectares of forest, blocking rivers and polluting the environment, which does not fit into the format of the reserve. According to the Minister of International Cooperation and Tourism of the region B. G. Galsanov, despite numerous protests of the local population and environmentalists, Niae Xingbang has achieved its goal. It seems that the only reason for stopping is that the tenants do not agree with the involvement of at least 75% of the local labor force in the rented areas.

In 2015, Niae Xingbang wanted to become a tenant of not only 115 thousand hectares, but also over time - up to 200 thousand hectares. For some reason, a company that is geographically far from Transbaikalia needs this particular territory of Russia again. By the way, this company is a subsidiary of another Chinese company Zoje Resources Investment, which is engaged in production... there are ²⁵ sewing machines.

The administration of the Trans-Baikal Territory openly seeks to create the most favorable conditions for the Chinese tenant. In particular, the governor suggests that the share of local workers in the total number of people employed here should not exceed 50%. He also agrees that Russia's share in the assets of the future joint company engaged in the development of 115 thousand hectares of our forest should be only 25%...

The Regional Prosecutor's Office responded to the appeal of State Duma Deputy P. V. Arefyev and the indignation of residents and issued a "warning to the first Deputy Chairman of the regional Government A. I. Shersmatov about the inadmissibility of violations of the Law on Protection of Competition, Restriction of the Rights and Interests of local agricultural producers" ²⁶.

It would seem that the matter is solved, the point is made. However, it's not that simple.

QUESTIONS ARE ASKED. BUT THEY ARE NOT SOLVED

In the same Trans-Baikal Territory, 40% of the Tungiro-Olem-Kinsky district, which is more than 2 million ha, is being transferred to long-term leases to Chinese forest users.²⁵ By the time negotiations began, the Chinese had already leased about 40% of the territory of Mogochinsky district and about 9% of the area of Krasnochikoysky district for a ⁴⁹-year lease period26. And all this again despite the protests of the local population. In Tungiro-Olekminsky district, a corresponding agreement with the Chinese side should be signed in 2016. Local residents living off hunting are outraged. The head of the district, Yu. N. Sapov, helplessly exclaims :" At all meetings, I express my disagreement with the possible transfer of forests for rent. Money from this goes to the regional and federal budgets. I can't fight the government."²⁷.

According to the head of the administration of the Mogotuysky district of Transbaikalia B. TS. Nim-buev, Chinese tenants can take the territories that are most successfully used by the local population: "Our district ranks first in terms of livestock and one of the leaders in the Siberian Federal District. We have a well-developed animal husbandry, so there are no free pastures. They're already overloaded."

Thus, cooperation between entrepreneurs and government agencies of Russia and China in the field of economic relations, especially in the use of natural resources of our country, has developed a complex situation that requires detailed analysis and decision-making at the highest level. There is a complete disregard for the position of the local population.

So, the Chairman of the Federation Council V. I. Matvienko sees no threat in the arrival of Chinese and other foreign investors in the Far East. In her opinion, we should only protect our interests reliably, for example, categorically prohibit the use of harmful pesticides.²⁸

Unfortunately, this is what many Russian officials at various levels have tried to do, without any tangible results, over the past few years.-

the last 20 + years. It is impossible to assign a Rosselkhoznadzor employee or other authorized observer to every Chinese greenhouse...

For more than 20 years, the country has been destroying the fertile soil layer, and poisoned food products have entered the trade. Repeated orders from local prosecutor's offices, as well as other security agencies, aimed at restoring order, are ineffective. Nevertheless, neither the Prosecutor General's Office of the Russian Federation nor local internal affairs bodies take measures to eliminate the truly massive disregard for the rule of law in the field of nature protection and public health.

Who can and should cultivate the land that we now so generously give away?-

give it to the Chinese? Research conducted by a number of scientific institutions of the Russian Academy of Sciences, the Institute of Sociology and the Higher School of Economics (HSE) showed that 29% of the adult urban population (which is 25 million people). citizens of the Russian Federation) are ready to leave the cities and work in rural areas ²⁹. The country has the richest agricultural land.

It seems that the land should be in state ownership. There is a need to develop an agrarian program, similar to the well-known program of industrialization of the country.

According to the author, it is necessary to allocate land to farmers for 50 or more years so that it becomes a "family estate". State construction of highways, systems for supplying gas, electricity and water to farms, and the formation of a special financial and procurement system for servicing such farms are necessary. And many other things that require political will and joint efforts of society and the state.

* * *

In my opinion, now the country has conditions for the renewal of agriculture, the formation of an independent large and influential social stratum of farming in the economy and society. If this is done, the question of attracting foreign, including Chinese, labor to Russia and handing over huge areas of land in Siberia and the Far East to the Chinese will disappear by itself.

^{Gelbras V. G.} 1 Kitayskaya real'nost ' Rossii [Chinese Reality of Russia]. 2001. 200 p. {Gelbras V. G. 2001. Kitaiskaya realnost Rossii. M.); his - Russia in the context of global Chinese migration. M, "Ant". 2004. 204 p. (Idem-2014. Rossiya v usloviyakh globalnoi kitaiskoi migratsii. M.) (in Russian)

² The News department introduces China to foreign investment and cooperation - www.gov.cn/artice/ 201111/20111001141237. shtml

³ Head of the Federal Migration Service on the lease of land in Transbaikalia by the Chinese: there is no Chinese expansion in Russia -http://news.chita.ru/74840

⁴ From Beijing to Lake Baikal. Transbaikalia may transfer 115 thousand hectares of land to China - http://www.aif.ru/ot-pekina-do-baikala. zabaikale-mozet-peredat-knp-115-tis-ga-zemel

^{Polunin A.} 5 China takes Russia for rent -http://svpressa.ru/pjlitic/article/25865/

⁶ Ibid.

⁷ Urozhay ot khimikov [Harvest from chemists]. 2015, N 27, p. 14.

⁸ Experts have different views on the benefits of leasing Trans-Baikal land to the Chinese - http://www.gazeta. ru/politics/2015/06/23_a_6852465. shtml

⁹ Harvest from chemists...

¹⁰ Chinese lease of land in Transbaikalia includes the settlement of Chinese people in this territory http://ehorussia.com/new/node/1058

¹¹ http://argumenti.ru/politics/n89/107368

¹² To strangers-not an inch? // Argumenty I fakty. 2015, N 37.

¹³ Ekonomicheskoe zakulisye [Economic backstage]. Argumenty i fakty [Arguments and Facts]. 2015, N 27.

¹⁴ To strangers-not an inch?..

^{Ivanov V.} 15 Prerequisites and precedents of land transfer to China - http://pronedra.ru/igriculture/2015/06/23/ zabajkaiev-v-arendu

¹⁶ Chinese vegetable grower told Russkaya Planeta how greenhouse vegetables are grown near Krasnoyarsk -http://rusplt.ru/sjciety/skajite-spasibo-chto-myi-vas-konnim-18408.html

¹⁷ What will the Chinese milk turn out to be? // World of News. 2015, N 28(124), p. 5.

¹⁸ Chinese lease of land in Transbaikalia includes the settlement of Chinese people in this territory - http://eho-russia.com/new/nod e/1058

^{Melitina E., Pantyusheva T., Vadysheva-Kremneva Yu., Yakimov A., Fatkulina E.} 19 Why the Chinese in Russia grow tomatoes on prohibited fertilizers and chemicals - http://www.kp.rU/daily/26399.5/327520

²⁰ Russia's friendship with China is being stripped of its soil. Ministry of Agriculture demands to limit the possibility of renting land to foreigners - http://newdaynews.ru/economy/542122.html

²¹ The State Duma decided to investigate the legality of a possible lease of land by China - http://vz.ru/2015/6/30/ 753642.html

^{Ivanov V.} 22 Decree. Op.

²³ The Chinese demand to check the land lease deal for corruption - http://izvestia.ru/news/588216

²⁴ The prosecutor's office considered the lease of land in Transbaikalia by China a threat to local agricultural producers -http://realy.newsru.eom/article/1 sep2015/zab

²⁵ Russia leases Transbaikalia to China -http://www.torontovka.com/forum/7key4ife.forum.topic&i d=114836

²⁶ Ibid.

²⁷ http://asiarussia.ru/news/6694

²⁸ Matvienko sees no problems in China's lease of Trans - Baikal territory-http://www.newsru.com/russia/ 09jul2015/matvienko.htm

²⁹ To strangers-not an inch? .. p. 17.

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