Chinese Workers Seek Work in Russia Sun Aug 25, 3:18 PM ET
MOSCOW (AP) - The Russian defense minister said residents shouldn't feel threatened by the growing number of Chinese workers seeking employment in the country's sparsely populated Far Eastern and Siberian regions.
"If a certain number of Chinese citizens come and work in Siberia on the condition that everything is organized correctly — these people register and pay taxes — let them do it," Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov said in remarks televised Sunday.
There are no exact figures for the number of Chinese working in Russia, but estimates range from 200,000 to as many as 5 million. Most are in the Russian Far East, where they arrive with legitimate work visas to do seasonal work on Russia's low-tech, labor-intensive farms.
The stream of Chinese workers coincided with a strengthening of ties between the two nations, which culminated in a friendship treaty signed last year, the first such document since 1950, when Joseph Stalin and Mao Zedong created a Soviet-Chinese alliance.
Since the Sept 11. terrorist attacks brought Russia closer to the West, the Kremlin has tried to allay China's concerns that their new friendship is being sidelined.
Asked if China posed a threat to Russia, Ivanov told ITAR-Tass news agency that "I don't feel such a threat."
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