Russia's far east, whose population is declining, is keeping a careful eye on neighboring China as the world's most populous country witnesses rapid economic growth, the visiting governor of the Khabarovsk region said.
"We are closely studying the development of China," Victor Ishaev said, noting that China faces "a very large number of threats which it won't be able to resolve on its own internally."
Ishaev said the threats to the country of 1.3 billion people included massive unemployment in both cities and rural areas and a lack of water and arable land, as the nation with 22 percent of the world's population has only 7 percent of the world's fertile land.
"All of this is leading to the development of business in other territories," he said on Tuesday on a visit to Tokyo.
The 13 regions of the Russian far east have lost 17.8 percent of their population since the collapse of the Soviet Union, nearly entirely due to emigration with 1.8 million people leaving since 1990, Ishaev said.
Asked whether Chinese labor could pose a threat, the governor said his region was delighted by the presence in Khabarovsk of businesspeople and tourists and welcomed workers from China, North Korea, Ukraine and Turkey.
"But I certainly don't want to say there are no problems," he said.
No more than 10,000 Chinese people head to the Khabarovsk region each year, Ishaev said.
"We are in control of this issue for the moment," he said.
"But nature hates a void. If we, that means Russia, work actively to develop the Far East, all will be fine. If we don't, all will go badly," he said.
He said the outcome of the foreign-labor issue was up to Moscow.
"The worse the [central] power carries out its functions, the more problems there will be," he said.
Russia and China reached a deal in October in Beijing to demarcate the final 2 percent of their 4,300km border under which islands in the Amur river were divided.
The governor said that "not one square meter of farmland" and "not one dacha [country home]," were handed over to China.
Nonetheless, "even if there is no economic loss, we can be starting a political precedent," he said.
A fire caused by a burst gas pipe yesterday spread to several homes and sent a fireball soaring into the sky outside Malaysia’s largest city, injuring more than 100 people. The towering inferno near a gas station in Putra Heights outside Kuala Lumpur was visible for kilometers and lasted for several hours. It happened during a public holiday as Muslims, who are the majority in Malaysia, celebrate the second day of Eid al-Fitr. National oil company Petronas said the fire started at one of its gas pipelines at 8:10am and the affected pipeline was later isolated. Disaster management officials said shutting the
DITCH TACTICS: Kenyan officers were on their way to rescue Haitian police stuck in a ditch suspected to have been deliberately dug by Haitian gang members A Kenyan policeman deployed in Haiti has gone missing after violent gangs attacked a group of officers on a rescue mission, a UN-backed multinational security mission said in a statement yesterday. The Kenyan officers on Tuesday were on their way to rescue Haitian police stuck in a ditch “suspected to have been deliberately dug by gangs,” the statement said, adding that “specialized teams have been deployed” to search for the missing officer. Local media outlets in Haiti reported that the officer had been killed and videos of a lifeless man clothed in Kenyan uniform were shared on social media. Gang violence has left
US Vice President J.D. Vance on Friday accused Denmark of not having done enough to protect Greenland, when he visited the strategically placed and resource-rich Danish territory coveted by US President Donald Trump. Vance made his comment during a trip to the Pituffik Space Base in northwestern Greenland, a visit viewed by Copenhagen and Nuuk as a provocation. “Our message to Denmark is very simple: You have not done a good job by the people of Greenland,” Vance told a news conference. “You have under-invested in the people of Greenland, and you have under-invested in the security architecture of this
Japan unveiled a plan on Thursday to evacuate around 120,000 residents and tourists from its southern islets near Taiwan within six days in the event of an “emergency”. The plan was put together as “the security situation surrounding our nation grows severe” and with an “emergency” in mind, the government’s crisis management office said. Exactly what that emergency might be was left unspecified in the plan but it envisages the evacuation of around 120,000 people in five Japanese islets close to Taiwan. China claims Taiwan as part of its territory and has stepped up military pressure in recent years, including