Chinese citizens’ mistreatment a reminder Sino-Russian ties aren’t all wine and roses

General Alexsei Kuropatkin, who was defence minister and commander of the Russian army during the Russo-Japanese War, once expressed the view that if the Russo-Chinese border was removed and Chinese people were permitted to migrate into Siberia as freely as Russians, Siberia would eventually undergo Sinicisation while Russians would be forced to move beyond the Ural Mountains.

Professor Yuri Tavrovsky, affiliated with the People’s Friendship University of Russia, contends that when China presents proposals for development initiatives in the Far East, Russian officials maintain a cautious stance and keep these concerns in mind, albeit without mentioning anything openly.

On the other side, there are persistent grievances within Chinese public discourse and academic circles aimed at Russia for reaping the greatest territorial advantages from the weakened state of modern China during the Qing dynasty’s decline. The Russian empire’s exploitation of Manchuria is ironclad evidence. This trend takes on added significance, considering censorship in China, as publicly expressing these feelings implies an endorsement from the Chinese government.

In 2011, the Chinese song Baikal Lake, composed by Li Jian, elicited expressions of sorrow from Chinese citizens concerning their nation’s historical territorial concessions to Russia. Simultaneously, the substantial interest of Chinese enterprises towards the lake prompted significant investments in the surrounding region.

This in turn prompted a Russian protest in 2019 against the potential environmental pollution that might be caused by the new Chinese factories. According to Tavrovsky, this historical territorial narrative is deeply ingrained within the national psyche of both Russian and Chinese populations.

Nothing is more powerful than personal experience. From 2015 to 2017, I pursued my master’s degree in political economy at the Moscow State Institute of International Relations. As a native Chinese student, I faced a disheartening situation when seeking to attend China-related lectures.

Despite obtaining the senior dean’s signed permission, I was rejected repeatedly by a Russian sinologist as the professor only wanted local Russian students to participate. According to the professor, there were certain aspects of the lecture on China and Russia that I, as a Chinese person, should not be privy to. In this situation, I believe most Chinese nationals would ask how different this is from the discrimination Chinese people experienced during the “century of humiliation”.