A. G. LARIN

Candidate of Historical Sciences

Various and numerous violations of the rule of law are an inexhaustible topic of discussion in modern Russia, whether we are talking about Russians themselves,or about migrants, including Chinese. Illegal actions of migrants from China not only harm the Russian state, but also do not have the best effect on the formation of images of China and the Chinese in the Russian mass consciousness.

A lot of angry revelatory publications are devoted to the criminal activities of the Chinese, in which the truth is mixed with fiction, sometimes with a noticeable preponderance in favor of the latter. This phenomenon is partly explained by the understandable scarcity of factual material that the relevant authorities consider possible to share with the public, and partly by the obvious preferences of the authors.

Meanwhile, along with increasing the vigilance of citizens - which is obviously the goal of such publications-there is another, more constructive task that sometimes remains in the shadows: to try to find out what circumstances give rise to large-scale offenses, in other words, who is to blame for what, from whom and for what it is necessary to ask. We will focus on this task in this section.

A priori, it can be argued that the mass of people who are separated from their native places and find themselves in a new country, where they do not respect their own laws, is potentially a criminal environment. The extent to which this negative potential will be realized depends on the quality of law enforcement agencies ' work. By allowing the flow of migrants into the country, the authorities assume responsibility for ensuring that migrants comply with the laws of the host country.

Illegal activities of Chinese migrants can be classified as follows:

- violations of the rules of entry across the border, stay (residence) and employment - everything that turns a law-abiding migrant into an illegal one;

- economic crime related to the transportation of goods across the border: smuggling, "gray customs clearance";

- criminal economic activity on Russian territory: illegal entrepreneurship, tax evasion, bribery of officials, withdrawal of funds abroad through underground banks, poaching, etc.;

- criminal offenses: robbery, extortion, kidnapping, murder. They are usually carried out by Chinese migrants in their own environment.

Let's look at these types of offenses in order.

Illegal migrants are not only those foreign citizens or stateless persons who crossed the border and ended up on the territory of the Russian Federation without passing through passport and immigration control or passing it with forged documents. These are also those who:

- does not have properly executed documents that give them the right to stay on the territory of the Russian Federation (did not pass registration at the place of residence or stay in due time, expired visa);

- is engaged in a different work activity than indicated in their documents; did not leave the Russian Federation after the end of the contract or the completion of their studies.

It should be noted that the claims about millions of uninvited guests from China, allegedly filling the spaces of the Far East and Siberia, are nothing more than a myth. The total number of Chinese migrants in Russia, estimated by experts at 400-500 thousand people, also includes illegal migrants. Indeed, experts, taking into account the official data of the Federal Migration Service regarding labor migrants from the PRC (which is more than 200 thousand people), make corrections to them based on their own ideas about the presence of such and such a number of Chinese people in such and such a territory, and ultimately on intuitive visual assessments that do not give a Naturally, there are opportunities to distinguish legal migrants from illegal ones. It should be noted that among the total mass of labor migrants who annually arrive in Russia from different countries, there are much more illegal ones.

Apparently, there are very few Chinese illegally entering Russia. However, from time to time episodes of illegal border crossing occur and may even have the character of organized crime. Thus, in 2007, a trial was held in Khabarovsk against a Chinese citizen, Yuan Longhe, who was charged under the article of the Criminal Code "Organization of illegal migration". The accused, having registered several companies for Russian citizens in Khabarovsk, together with his accomplice in the city of Suifenghe, organized the registration of fictitious documents for entry to Russia, using the assistance of one of the employees of the migration service. The accomplices were arrested simultaneously, one in China and the other in ^Russia1.

The press reports on cases when for illegal entry into the territory of Russia, "transparent borders are used, which are preserved by the Law of the Russian Federation".-

Russia's relations with some CIS countries are similar."

UNDER THE GUISE OF TOURISTS

Speaking about Chinese migrants, Director of the Federal Migration Service Konstantin Romodanovsky said: "We have, of course, problems with them, including illegal transit to Western Europe through our country under the guise of tourists." ²

However, for the most part, illegal Chinese migrants are such because of violations of the passport and visa regime and unregistered labor activity. To a certain extent, these violations are related to the strict framework of visa rules (in certain cases, a migrant is forced to return to China to extend a visa), as well as the complexity and duration of processing permits for the import of labor.

The Russian Government is constantly fighting illegal migration through a number of measures, including::

- collection of fines for violating the rules of stay in Russia, as well as for illegal use of foreign workers ' labor. The amount of fines increases over time;

- conducting special operations of the "Foreigner" and "Illegal" types on an ongoing basis in order to identify the facts of illegal migration. The scale and results of operations of this kind can be judged by the following example. In November 2008, as part of Operation Illegal-2008 in Primorye, border guards together with migration service officers detained 297 foreigners, 20% of them in the border zone, mostly Chinese citizens. The amount of fines is about 100 thousand rubles ³. Operations of this kind produce modest results in comparison with the number of illegal migrants, but their preventive role seems to be quite significant;

- one of the most important suppliers of illegal migration from China is tourist groups, whose members often do not return home with their group, but stay in Russia until the end of the visa period, or even after it, while trading in the markets. To make it more difficult for tourists to turn into illegal merchants, which occurred despite the collection of fines from travel agencies, the validity period of a tourist visa in 2006 was reduced from 30 to 15 days, and a limit of 50 people was set for the number of tourist groups (see the section "Tourists" above).;

- to a certain extent, measures to simplify the procedure for registering migrants contribute to reducing the number of illegal migrants.

It is obvious, however, that a qualitative reduction in the volume of illegal migration, including Chinese, cannot be achieved through the above-mentioned measures. Russian Interior Minister R. Nurgaliyev called the growth of illegal migration, along with increased tensions in the Far East and the scale of criminalization of its economy, a serious threat to the country's national security.⁴

Sometimes in the field of illegal migration, amazing cases are discovered. Thus, in September 2006, in the Volgograd region, police officers, conducting operations "Harvest" and "Migrant", detained 44 seasonal agricultural workers who were illegally working in the fields of one of the districts. The detainees lacked both identity documents and work permits. During the inspection, it was found that in the rented fields they "not only grossly violated all sanitary and agrotechnical standards, but also used the strongest chemicals-growth accelerators, as a result of which the land was "oversaturated with the most harmful chemical compounds".⁵. Cases of the use of prohibited agricultural chemicals by Chinese farmers are recorded in various regions of the country.

The Chinese government strongly opposes illegal migration to Russia. The Ministry of Public Security of the People's Republic of China, together with other departments, is consistently fighting against illegal crossing of the Russian-Chinese border, against intermediaries who organize criminal actions of this kind. As noted by senior officials, thanks to the efforts of the Chinese side, the number of Chinese citizens illegally staying in Russia is decreasing every year6.

Countering illegal migration is one of the most important areas of Russian-Chinese cooperation, as set out in the highest-level bilateral documents. The Treaty of Good-Neighborliness, Friendship and Cooperation between the Russian Federation and the People's Republic of China of 2001 states:: "The Contracting Parties shall cooperate in combating illegal migration, including the illegal movement of individuals through their territories"⁷. The problem of illegal migration is addressed at the annual consultations of the Foreign Ministers of the two countries. In 2006, the two Ministries of Foreign Affairs established a joint Working Group on migration issues. The "Joint Declaration of the Russian Federation and the People's Republic of China" of March 26, 2007 noted: "Russian-Chinese cooperation in the field of migration is steadily developing. The Joint Working Group on Migration Issues is working successfully. The parties intend to continue cooperation in the field of combating illegal migration"⁸. It is interesting that in 2000, the parties even attempted to organize joint protection of the Russian-Chinese border on a pilot basis in the Bikin-Zhehe section ⁹.

In general, in the international arena, the Chinese government is actively attacking illegal emigration from the country, cooperating in this area with many states.

Among the violations of the law related to the transfer of goods across the border, direct smuggling, i.e. secret transportation with concealment from customs control, occupies a relatively modest place. This method is used to transport small quantities of goods that can be hidden in hidden places. For example, it is a variety of consumer goods (clothing, shoes, wired and cell phones), souvenirs, even leather chairs, and as a special type of contraband - drugs and strong substances. All this is brought to Russia not only through the Russian-Chinese border, but also through Kazakhstan, and not only by Chinese citizens,

but also our compatriots and citizens of the Central Asian republics.

Similarly, they try to smuggle goods of animal origin from Russia to China: fur skins, marine products, tree frogs, bear paws, wild plants, etc.Customs officers find contraband goods under clothing, under car seats, in the interstitial space of railway cars, even in truck tires.

Another illegal way to transport goods across the border, including large shipments, is to declare them incorrectly and underestimate their value. So, in 2006, a railway train loaded, according to documents, with "subcutaneous fat" and "ridge lard", but in fact - with varietal meat, was detained in the Primorsky Territory. At the request of the Primorsky Regional Prosecutor's Office, the People's Prosecutor's Office of Heilongjiang Province found out how many such shipments were made in the previous three months. It turned out that 28 - more than 10 thousand tons!¹⁰

In addition, sometimes the Russian consumer is offered substandard food products that do not have Russian veterinary certificates, children's products manufactured in violation of sanitary standards, etc. There are also facts of delivery of various counterfeit products, from glasses to slot machines.

INTERACTION OF CUSTOMS OFFICES OF THE TWO STATES

It should be noted that the fight against smuggling from China, drug trafficking, as well as illegal border crossing, Russian customs officers and law enforcement agencies are in constant cooperation with their Chinese colleagues. Regular meetings of Russian and Chinese border missions, working and protocol meetings of prosecutor's offices, police, tax and customs services are organized. Back in 1996, the "Agreement on Cooperation in the fight against Illicit trafficking in Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances and their abuse"was concluded. In 2008, the Russian Federal Drug Control Service opened a representative office in China. A remarkable fact: in 2007, a group of Chinese police officers was awarded medals of the Russian Federation for their assistance to the Russian drug control authorities in operations to stop the supply of large quantities of drugs to Russia. A year earlier, the drug police blocked one of the largest channels through which drugs were regularly transported to Blagoveshchensk ¹¹.

In 2004, an agreement on cooperation between the Far Eastern Customs Administration and Harbin Customs was signed in Vladivostok. This marked the beginning of the organization of information exchange, in which information on the content of export declarations for Chinese goods imported into Russia could be transmitted to Russian customs officers from Harbin.¹² In 2007, a protocol was signed in the Kremlin, which meant further development of cooperation in this direction.

A special place in customs practice is occupied by the so-called "gray customs clearance" - the import of goods under corruption schemes, the main one of which is called in Chinese "bao ji bao shui" ("payment for air transport and duties" with options: "payment for motor transport and duties", " payment for water transport...", " payment for storage... "). Its essence is that the cargo is imported to Russia through certain Russian brokerage companies, to which the cargo owner pays both transportation and customs duties at once, after which the goods are delivered to the specified place, but without properly executed customs clearance documents. (Sometimes "gray customs clearance" also refers to the non-taxable transportation of goods by "shuttles" as personal baggage.)

The "package" method of transporting goods across the border allows their owners to save time and money. The main clientele of the "gray customs clearance" is small and medium-sized firms, subjects of the so-called "people's trade". They claim that they are forced to use "gray" schemes, since customs tariffs in Russia are excessively high, especially for shoes, down products, etc., and they simply cannot carry these goods through customs in the usual way. They also complain about the complexity and length of customs clearance procedures, which can simply block the way to the market for goods. In randomly selected reports of the Chinese press, you can find, for example, complaints about the three-month red tape, as a result of which goods intended for New Year's gifts did not have time to reach the holiday. Or a story about how the exporter had to fill out customs declarations separately for each of several dozen varieties of sweets, and while the registration lasted, the shelf life of the goods expired ¹³. (However, this raises the question of how much time was left before the expiration date when the goods arrived at customs.) Or a complaint that when calculating the tax on a down jacket, its value is estimated at $ 50 with the actual price of $ 20.

Introduced back in the 1990s, this ambiguous way of passing customs has become predominant, as indirectly evidenced by the billions of dollars difference between Chinese data on exports to Russia and Russian data on imports from China. (Other reasons for such a significant discrepancy include the import of goods into Russia by shuttle as personal belongings.)

"GRAY IMPORT" AND ITS CONSEQUENCES

Gray imports cause serious damage to the Russian state: it reduces the amount of budget revenues and is one of the reasons for the cheapness of Chinese goods on our market, which creates pressure on domestic producers-although, on the other hand, it meets the interests of the Russian consumer. For Chinese exporters, the reverse side of the" gray " payment of customs duties is the fact that cargo that crossed the border without proper documents is considered contraband of unknown origin and is subject to confiscation.

The largest action of this kind took place in February 2004.

At the Moscow Emeral market, where Chinese businessmen, mainly from the provinces of Zhejiang and Fujian, rented more than 300 containers for the sale of consumer goods: within a few days, the Investigative Committee of the Ministry of Internal Affairs seized 85% of Chinese goods worth about $ 30 million.¹⁴ In March 2005, the Sadovod market near Moscow was occupied by a large number of Chinese businesses. A large shipment of shoes, mainly from Wenzhou, worth about $ 80 million, was seized. ¹⁵ yuan (more than $ 10 million). The reason for the arrest is the lack of documents confirming the passage of customs clearance and ownership of the goods.

Even more significant was the inspection carried out in September 2008 at the Cherkizovo market. During the inspection, shipments of Chinese shoes, clothing, and hosiery worth approximately $ 2 billion were seized, which affected more than 2 thousand people. firms in Zhejiang, Fujian, Jiangsu, Shandong, Sichuan ¹⁶. In June 2009, the discovery of contraband cargo became the property of the Russian press. The cargo was imported through the Baltic Customs and placed in 6 thousand containers in the warehouses of AST Group companies. And in 58 containers, a partial inspection found children's clothing and shoes that do not meet sanitary standards and therefore unsuitable for consumption.¹⁷

It should be emphasized that in all such cases, the Chinese authorities are most vigorously defending their compatriots, demanding the return of confiscated goods. The Chinese side has a serious argument: intermediary companies openly offer their services and sell them without being subject to any sanctions; therefore, their activities are legitimate; but then the use of their services by Chinese merchants should also be considered legitimate. High-level diplomatic institutions are involved in conflict resolution, and thus incidents take on a political dimension, adding dissonance to the overall atmosphere of Russian-Chinese relations.

In general, the Chinese government categorically opposes the use of "gray" customs clearance schemes, which creates serious risks for Chinese business, affects economic cooperation between the two sides, and introduces an element of distrust in their relations. In addition, Chinese entrepreneurs who pass through customs in a normal way are at a disadvantage next to their unscrupulous competitors.

For all these reasons, the Chinese authorities pay serious attention to the control of export goods and require entrepreneurs to strictly comply with Russian laws. Chinese departments, representative offices in Russia, and the media conduct a lot of explanatory work with merchants: they inform them about changes in Russian customs legislation, convince them of the unprofitability, ultimately, of "gray customs clearance" (is it worth taking the risk of losing all goods for the difference between it and legal customs clearance: $ 28 thousand in the first case in this case, and 30 - 40 thousand rubles. in the second?).

In an effort to protect their compatriots from dangerous collisions, the Chinese side is cooperating with the Russian side. A working group on streamlining bilateral trade was established in 2004, and a number of documents were adopted. At the same time, the Ministry of Commerce of the People's Republic of China and the Ministry of Economic Development of the Russian Federation organized seminars on trade and economic cooperation, including customs issues, in the provinces of Zhejiang, Sichuan and Jilin. In June 2009, a customs cooperation mechanism was established to "promote the fight against grey customs clearance schemes" ¹⁸.

From a formal and legal point of view, claims for "gray customs clearance" can be presented to both parties: Russian brokerage companies that magically carry goods invisible through customs barriers as a paid service; and Chinese merchants who are tempted by discounted services, but do not receive the necessary customs documents. But if we want to eliminate this phenomenon, it is necessary and sufficient to "unravel" the Russian customs.

In the mid - 19th and early 20th centuries, Chinese customs were controlled by British officials, which was rightly regarded in China as a partial loss of state sovereignty. But the Russian customs service, as well as other departments related to its work, are managed exclusively by citizens of the sovereign Russian Federation, who are fully able to establish such procedures there as they deem necessary. Consequently, the root of the evil lies on Russian soil, while the Chinese have nothing to do with it. What kind of root this is is no secret to anyone - neither to the Russians nor to the Chinese.

"Over the years of their existence, interest groups have developed in Russia around the" gray customs clearance "and the" transport plus duties "package payment, whose roots are closely intertwined," Chinese experts note. - These groups have great power, to eliminate the "gray customs clearance" means to close the road to enrichment for them, so they are delaying the moment of eliminating irregular trade by all means " ¹⁹.

In March 2007, at a government meeting, the head of the Ministry of Economic Development, Gref, stated that he considered " the priority task of the three - year period 2008-2010 to be a complete solution to the problem of "gray" and "black" customs clearance of imported goods"²⁰.

"Although it is impossible to destroy the gray customs clearance in an instant, its time is running out," Chinese observers predicted two years before Gref's statement ²¹. Will their optimism be justified?

The Investigative Committee of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation opened a criminal case in connection with the above-mentioned fact of smuggling shoes from China in 2005, but it seems to have sunk into the sand, at least the results of which are unknown to the public.

In mid-2009, the Investigative Committee of the Prosecutor's Office of the Russian Federation also opened a criminal case on the contraband cargo found in the Cherkizovo market in 2008, but was unable to find the owners of the cargo (!).

A high-profile action held under the slogans of combating illegal forms of trade and non-profit organizations.-

Illegal migration was followed by the closure of the Cherkizovo market in June 2009 , the place of the largest concentration of foreign merchants, primarily Chinese. By suddenly sealing the market, the Moscow government deprived the merchants who worked there not only of their jobs, but also of access to their own goods. At the same time, the value of goods owned by Chinese owners was estimated at $ 5-8 billion. Attempts by Chinese businessmen, along with Vietnamese ones, to block Shchelkovskoe Highway in protest and hold a rally in the center of Moscow were easily blocked by the police.

But in China, this story became widely publicized, and a small international scandal broke out. The diplomatic departments of both countries had to enter into action. A delegation of the Ministry of Commerce has arrived in Moscow urgently from Beijing. The Union of Chinese Entrepreneurs in Russia has created a temporary coordination group that has obtained the right to check market violations together with Russian officials. "After constructive work and friendly consultations," the Chinese press reported, " the two sides reached a broad understanding." One of the practical results of mutual understanding was the agreement between the Russian construction company AFI Development and the Chinese company Guanda on the joint construction of the Chinatown Center for Trade and cultural cooperation in Moscow on a parity basis. The first stage of the center should start working as soon as possible. The center will include a huge wholesale market, warehouses, hotels, representative offices of the customs and migration services. Upon completion of construction in 2011, 50-60 thousand entrepreneurs will be able to work in the market, its annual trade turnover is expected to exceed 6 billion rubles. United States dollars.²² The main feature of such a complex is that it will be impossible to close it by a strong-willed, or rather, voluntary decision of one of the parties.

During the negotiations, the Chinese side strongly emphasized: "The only way out for Chinese merchants and businessmen in Russia is to enter the path of legitimate business." ²³ At the same time, the authoritative newspaper Huanqiu Shibao wrote: "It is impossible to completely solve the problem of "gray customs clearance" by shifting it to Chinese entrepreneurs. The Russian authorities should strengthen their internal governance, prevent officials who get rich through "gray customs clearance" from running around, and fight those officials who make a fortune out of it."²⁴

It is hard to disagree with this statement. The fight against illegal activity in the markets should consist not in destroying markets that allow meeting the vital needs of the population, but in eliminating "gray schemes", strengthening customs and migration control, in short, in eliminating corruption. If a person has dirty hair, you need to wash your hair thoroughly, and not remove the scalp from it.

CRIME IS DEVELOPING IN THE RUSSIAN FAR EAST

The illegal economic activity of Chinese migrants on Russian territory is as much a part ^of the legal one and is just as inextricably linked to it and covered up by it,as the entire shadow Russian economy is relative to its open part25. The ongoing economic integration of the Russian Far East with the border provinces of the People's Republic of China, bringing many benefits to both sides, at the same time, has turned the southern part of this region into a hotbed of crime, both Russian and Chinese, causing huge and often irreparable damage to our country. Among the main types of crimes committed there:

- illegal deforestation;

- predatory extraction of taiga, sea, and river gifts of nature, including through raids across the border. (Up to the fact that toxic substances are poured into water bodies for the extraction of tree frogs) ²⁶;

- purchase of timber, scrap metal, bioresources from criminal structures for "black" cash, purchase using "kickbacks" , etc.;

- smuggling of these products to China;

- violation of environmental legislation, including the rules of subsurface use in gold mining on leased land plots;

- organization of underground banks, illegal financial transactions in their own environment.

The most widespread crimes are related to timber exported to China, Japan and Korea. According to the head of the Department of Economic Security of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia in the Far East, "the high turnover of funds made the forest industry extremely attractive for criminal structures." He noted that along the border with China, "a wide network of buying points is deployed, where smugglers sell illegally harvested wood at bargain prices." ²⁷

The situation with illegal economic activity in the Far East makes it quite logical to merge the criminal underground from the Russian and Chinese sides. As the responsible employees of the Ministry of Internal Affairs (in this case, the head of the Primorsky Department of the All-Russian Research Institute of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia)argued with a certain amount of caution, "we can talk about the creation of transnational criminal groups" in Primorsky Krai ²⁸. But, regardless of the actual degree of interaction between criminal organizations of the two countries, it is impossible not to recognize that modern Russian reality, with its lack of jurisdiction, long-standing gaps in the law, corruption and the weakness of the government, torn apart by links and branches, opens up endless opportunities for flourishing "In fact, it directly provokes a" complementary " two-way crime.

Russia's shadow economy not only offers enticing opportunities for criminal partnerships with it; it also often forces Chinese merchants to circumvent the law. And the Chinese merchant, in turn, behaves exactly the same as our Russian one working next to him: he willingly accepts the rules of the game if they are beneficial to him, and carries them out against his will in other cases.

"Chinese merchants who want to get back on their feet can only follow the established rules, that is," when entering a village, honor its customs. " ²⁹

One of the few, if not the only, types of shadow activity that has been mastered exclusively by the Chinese, but, however, has organically fit into the Russian environment, is the organization of illegal travel companies, whose guides are free to interpret the facts from the history of Russia and Russian-Chinese relations as they please. According to the laws of the Russian Federation, only purely Russian companies, as well as joint companies with dominant Russian participation, are allowed to carry out tourist activities in Russia, but this does not prevent Chinese firms from working even on the territory of the Moscow Kremlin.

Of course, the negative aspects of the activities of Chinese migrants, who contribute to the criminalization of Russian life, deserve uncompromising condemnation. However, no more severe than the similar actions of our own unscrupulous dealers. Some Russians, filled with patriotic feelings, are more lenient towards domestic crooks only because they are "their own", and the capital they have acquired remains in Russian hands (is this always the case?). Some others portray Russia as the victim of a"Chinese robbery." But we must clearly understand that the main sources of Chinese crime in Russia are in the criminal nature of our Russian reality; the breeding ground for Chinese offenses is our social system with its vices and defects.

Whether an official extorts a bribe from a Chinese person or the latter offers it himself, putting his moral standards to the test - in any case, everything depends on the official, because he is the power. For the dishonest deal of the Russian "firmach" with a Chinese merchant who buys metal or timber, you should ask, first of all, from the "firmach": he is the master of the situation, he violates the laws and interests of his country, and not the Chinese. The manufacturer and seller of the product must be responsible for selling substandard goods that are dangerous to health on the Russian market. But without a clear work of sanitary control bodies and law enforcement agencies, the consumer's legal right to a good-quality product turns into a fiction. Chinese farmers who grow vegetables in Russian fields using banned pesticides are certainly breaking the law. But what is the role of agricultural surveillance, which, it turns out, does not have the necessary devices to detect substandard products?

IMPENETRABLE SHIELD

It is impossible to force the Chinese alone to enter the path of law-abiding: those who feed on the Chinese, collecting invisible tribute from them, cover their tributaries from the eye and right hand of the law with an impenetrable shield. Thus, they reproduce and preserve the joint Russian-Chinese shadow system, which emerged by merging various types of crime that complement each other.

And further: if we are not able to deal with our criminals who are causing huge damage to our country, then does it make sense to demand that China rein in Chinese citizens who violate other people's laws on other people's territory, especially since they, unlike ours, do not harm their own country?

However, in another area - criminal offenses-the situation is different. With few exceptions, Chinese migrants commit criminal crimes such as extortion, murder, and robbery in their own environment. The Chinese prefer not to apply to Russian law enforcement agencies in such cases. But if criminals are apprehended and exposed by Russian justice and transferred to the Chinese side, they will face severe punishment, up to the death penalty.³⁰ We have already discussed cooperation between the two countries ' law enforcement agencies in combating drug trafficking, smuggling, and cross-border crime.

At the end of the section, we present an interesting document-the instruction of the Ministry of Commerce of the People's Republic of China to those who intend to do business in Russia.

"1. Thoroughly study the Russian market before entering it with your product.

2. Act only in the prescribed ways, follow all the prescribed procedures, and do not give any officials a reason to extort bribes. For example, the invitation and visa application must contain the same purpose of travel. Register within three days of entering Russia.

3. Comply with the laws of the host country: whether your compatriots comply with the laws is crucial to their ability to establish themselves in the country. Only by strictly observing all the provisions of the laws, acting according to the law, can you be accepted in the society of the host country, ensure long-term living and development conditions. This applies to all Chinese citizens in Russia. As practice shows, in the event of incidents caused by a violation of the law, consular protection is ineffective.

4. Investors and businesses should look ahead and take into account the political situation in the host country. The end of the "gray customs clearance" is just around the corner, and the Russian government's decision to end it and restore order in the market is beginning to be implemented. Chinese firms and businesses need to adjust their operations and change their trading methods.

5.Be able and don't be afraid to defend yourself. At this stage, the situation in Russia is still not as we would like, public security is not fully ensured, and law enforcement officers sometimes violate them themselves. Nevertheless, judicial structures are regularly functioning, as are internal control bodies in the police. You need to know how to call the police, how to file a complaint. You need to be prepared for various incidents and act calmly if they arise. " ³¹

The last point in this document stands apart from the rest: it does not concern the observance of the law by migrants, but, on the contrary, their behavior, if the law does not apply to them.-

It is also used against them - in case of encroachments on their personal rights. This is one of the most pressing problems concerning the life of migrants in Russia: attacks, robberies, extortion have become a daily occurrence for them. Sometimes there are also murders of Chinese people, as was the case, for example, in Khabarovsk on January 14, 2007. In the Joint Declaration of the Russian Federation and the People's Republic of China of March 26, 2007, the parties expressed their intention to "take effective measures to protect the lives, property and legitimate interests of citizens of another country"³², however, the necessary effectiveness has not yet been achieved.

Under these circumstances, the Embassy and consulates of the People's Republic of China, Chinese public organizations, and travel agencies constantly, especially on the eve of holidays, urge compatriots who are on Russian territory to exercise caution, not to go out in the dark, and stay away from hot spots. Those in trouble are advised to call the police and report the incident to the Chinese representative offices. "The Chinese Embassy will do its best to protect the legitimate rights of Chinese citizens."

Indeed, in serious cases, the Chinese side does not hesitate to respond quite decisively, using diplomatic channels. When a major skirmish between police and Chinese workers took place in Irkutsk in 2005, during which there were casualties on both sides, the Chinese diplomatic authorities demanded a thorough investigation, punish the perpetrators, and take effective measures to avoid a repeat of such incidents. The case was widely publicized, and the Chinese media, which usually covers the life of migrants in Russia in a calm manner, this time did not skimp on praising the workers who managed to "stand up for themselves"on foreign soil. The Chinese press noted: "This incident is not accidental. The Russian police are infamous. Chinese people in Russia have three sources of fear: the police, customs, and skinheads. " ³³

Attacks on Chinese citizens are solved no more often than on migrants from other countries, and only sometimes justice catches up with the perpetrators. For example, in 2005, three residents of the Amur Region were sentenced to terms ranging from four to six and a half years for assaulting Chinese citizens. The Court found that they acted out of nationalistic motives.

Nevertheless, it should be recognized that the Chinese authorities respond to the aggression against migrants in a balanced and restrained manner. The authorities ' principled line is to protect the interests of their fellow citizens and prevent the incitement of passions. It is worth noting that in China there are hotheads who openly criticize the performers of this line for being soft. Skinheads get their fill of it - and it serves them right. It's just a shame that the "patriots" who are supposedly defending the Russian nation, dirty the image of the country with their attacks and give the same rabid chauvinists abroad an excuse to insult the entire people of Russia.

The above recommendations of the Ministry of Commerce (and this is far from the only document of this kind) are of fundamental importance, as they clearly and generally show how the Chinese government wants to see the behavior of its fellow citizens in Russia. Its position is determined by the strategic objective of a long-term presence in the vast Russian market. The goals of the two countries largely coincide here, and it would be simply unrealistic to demand more from Beijing. Further introduction of the activities of Chinese migrants within the framework of the law is our concern.

¹ Pacific star. 25.10.2007.Cit. по: www.habarovsk.ru/news/news27980.php

² " There will be no pogroms like in Paris in Russia!". Interview with K. Romodanovsky 29.02.2008 - www.fms.gov.ru/press/publications/news_detail.php?ID=11276

³ http://www.deita.ru/news/Vnews,,,,11166U4

⁴ Nezavisimaya gazeta. 15.12.2006.

⁵ http://ug.rian.ru/incidents/20060911/81510556/htmlU

⁶ Nezavisimaya gazeta. 21.06.2004.

⁷ Problems of the Far East (hereinafter referred to as PDV). 2001. N 5. SYU.

⁸ PDV. 2007. N 3. P. 9.

⁹ Rossiya-Kitay newspaper (Moscow). 05.08.2000.

¹⁰ Nezavisimaya gazeta. 16.10.2007.

¹¹ http://www.amur.info/news/2007/02/10/21/html

¹² http://www.russia.org.cn/rus/ID-543

^{He Shaoxi.} 13 Zhong E minjian maoi he shi zouchu "huise tong-guan" nichzhao [When will the" gray customs clearance " in the Sino-Russian people's trade get out of the quagmire?] / / Mosike huazhen bao. 31.03.2004.

¹⁴ http://english.people.com.cn/200402/16/eng20040216_134947.shtml

¹⁵ People's Daily. 23.03.2005 - http://russian.people.com.cn/31521/3264240.htmlU

¹⁶ Zhongguo fuzhuang xie mao wang (Chinese clothing and footwear). 29.10.2008 - http://www.fzxm.com/html/2008/10/1000174958/shtml

¹⁷ See: The Epoch Times. 08.06.2009 -http://www.epochtimes.rU/content/view/25356/3; http://www.gazeta.ru/news/social/2009/06/09/n_1370684/shtml

¹⁸ People's Daily online. 30.07.2009 - http://russian. people.com.cn/95181/6714141.html

¹⁹ Shangwu bu: qinzhen miandui elosa pige shichang [Ministry of Commerce: seriously turn your face to the Russian leather market] / / Zhongguo jingji wang. 19.03.2008 - http://fasion.ce.cn/main/yjxw/200803/19/t20080319_14890280/shtml

²⁰ Vedomosti. 02.03.2007.

²¹ People's Daily. 30.06.2005 - http://russian.people.com.cn/31518/3509124.html

²² Чжунго ван - http://russian.china.org.cn/business/txt/2009-07/27/content_18213796.htm

²³ People's Daily online. 30.07.2009 - http://russian.people.com.cn/95181/6714141.html

²⁴ Huanqiu shibao. 04.07.2009.

²⁵ The process of formation of a semi-criminal economy on the example of the cross-border market Blagoveshchensk-Heihe. See: Ryzhova Natalia. Will the Sino-Russian symbiosis in the Amur region remain a market fuss? // Diasporas. 2006. N 1. pp. 80-120.

²⁶ National News Agency - http://www.annews.ru/mews/detail/php?lD-70595

²⁷ Nezavisimaya gazeta. 15.12.2005.

Problemy bor'by s mezhdunarodnoi prestupnosti v Primorskom kray [Problems of combating transnational crime in the Primorye Territory]. Vladivostok, 2003. Cit. по: http://law.edu.ru/article.asp7articleID-1186757

^{Zhang Jianrong.} 29 Analysis of the phenomena of "gray business" ... / / PDV. 2005. N 1. p. 77.

³⁰ See: Nezavisimaya Gazeta. 15.01.2002; Semenyuk M. Y. Problems of combating transnational crime in the Primorsky Territory...

³¹ Shangwu bu: qinzhen miandui elosa pige shichang... -http://fasion.ce.cn/main/yjxw/200803/19/t20080319_14890280/shtml

³² PDV. 2007. N 3. P. 9.

³³ Renmin Wang (People's Internet) - http://world.people. com.cn/GB/14549/3406738.html

Permanent link to this publication: