China Reform Monitor: No. 998

October 19:

After a brawl between Chinese and Kyrgyz workers left at least two injured, hundreds of residents of Orlovka, Kyrgyzstan staged a rally demanding a halt to the exploitation of the Taldy-Bulak Levoberejny gold mine, Lenta.ru reports. The 400-500 peaceful protesters have set a three-day deadline and moved their yurts (nomadic tents) to the outskirts of the village to await the local government’s decision. The head of the Orlovka village council said that the residents are angry because Chinese investors are violating Kyrgyz environmental laws and employment regulations by “mainly employing Chinese workers to exploit the field.” In 2011 China’s Superb Pacific Ltd bought a 40 percent share in the Kazakh company developing the gold field.

[Editor’s Note: As Chinese firms continue to seek investment opportunities throughout the developing world conflicts among Chinese workers and locals have become increasingly common. The issue has become a particular cause for concern in Myanmar and Zambia, where conflicts between local and Chinese workers has disrupted production at copper mines.]

October 20:

Moscow police have arrested seven nationalist activists from the unregistered Other Russia party after they handcuffed themselves to the Chinese embassy in Moscow and unfurled banners condemning Chinese expansion in the Russian Far East. Russia’s Rosbalt news agency reports that the rally was held to protest “China’s territorial claims on Russia” with specific emphasis on seventeen hectares of land in the Altai Mountains.

A massive new state-owned Chinese casino complex has led to increased border security causing North Korean defectors to change their escape route into Thailand and on to South Korea. In 1999, the state-owned casino took out a 99-year lease on Laotian land in the 'Golden Triangle' that bisects Thailand, Myanmar and Laos. The casino and a customs house were completed late last year, and opened in early 2012, The Daily NK website reports.

October 24:

Moscow police have arrested seven nationalist activists from the unregistered Other Russia party after they handcuffed themselves to the Chinese embassy in Moscow and unfurled banners condemning Chinese expansion in the Russian Far East. Russia’s Rosbalt news agency reports that the rally was held to protest “China’s territorial claims on Russia” with specific emphasis on seventeen hectares of land in the Altai Mountains.

A massive new state-owned Chinese casino complex has led to increased border security causing North Korean defectors to change their escape route into Thailand and on to South Korea. In 1999, the state-owned casino took out a 99-year lease on Laotian land in the 'Golden Triangle' that bisects Thailand, Myanmar and Laos. The casino and a customs house were completed late last year, and opened in early 2012, The Daily NK website reports.

October 25:

Police in Gannan, Gansu have offered rewards to citizens who identify demonstrators planning to set themselves ablaze to protest China’s rule over Tibet, or for information leading to the capture of those responsible for a series of recent self-immolations. Over the last two weeks four Tibetans, including the grandfather of prominent young Tibetan reincarnate lama, the seventh Gungthang Rinpoche at Labrang Monastery, died after setting themselves on fire to protest Chinese repression. The police notice, dated October 21, said that in order to crack down on self-immolations, people who tip off police will be rewarded 50,000 yuan and those who provide information on the “black hands” who organized the four recent self-immolations would receive up to 200,000 yuan, Britain’s Telegraph reports. “The instances of self-immolation that have occurred recently in our prefecture are part of a political conspiracy by the Dalai clique that means to split China and undermine national unity,” it said.

Russia has declared its neutrality in the territorial dispute over the Diaoyu (Senkaku) islands between China and Japan, Russian Security Council secretary Nikolay Patrushev said while on an official visit to Japan. “The topic of the disputed islands was raised. We are not going to take anybody’s side. They should come to agreement themselves,” Patrushev said. According to Russia’s Rosbalt news, Patrushev’s visit was intended to create a favorable atmosphere prior to the upcoming Moscow summit between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda in December.

October 27:

“We, with China, have resolved the issues of exporting electricity, which will be generated by a cascade of hydroelectric power stations on the upper part of the River Naryn,” Kyrgyz President Almazbek Atambayev said at a ribbon-cutting ceremony for three new hydroelectric power stations. “We have signed an agreement with China. China will buy electricity from Kyrgyzstan,” Atambayev said. China will build a power transmission line between Xinjiang and Kemin, Kyrgyzstan, the Kyrgyz Telegraph Agency reports.