Prospects of Russian-Chinese cooperation in the labor migration field

The aim of the article is to study the state, obstacles and prospects of Russian-Chinese relations development in the sphere of labor migration. The main problem lies in the fact that the objective need and growing opportunities for mutually beneficial investments and labor exchange are constantly encountering subjective obstacles of psychological, ideological and financial nature. In the context of the global financial and economic crisis and the sanctions confrontation between Russia and the West, Russian-Chinese relations in 2014-2015 underwent quite contradictory changes. Russia and China manage to maintain a high level of bilateral relationships in the situation of increasing imbalances: 1) the gap between the levels and the pace of economic development is growing in China's favor; 2) the asymmetry between the high level of political relations and the low level of economic cooperation, as well as the weak contacts between ordinary citizens. Both countries face the need to review the structure of their relations and find relevant areas of cooperation. The new system projects of the Chinese Silk Road Economic Zone Initiative and the idea of its connection with the Eurasian Economic Union, the Russian program for the development of the Far East and the Chinese development program for the North-Eastern provinces dramatically increase the importance of Russian-Chinese cooperation in the field of labor exchange. Having proclaimed the priority of the eastern vector of its policy, Russia has stepped up significantly its cooperation with China and has created new opportunities for the Asia-Pacific integration plans implementation. The current state of Russian-Chinese relations is affected by a variety of constraining and stimulative factors. Both countries call each other strategic partners, pursue the policy of actual integration on a regional level. They are convinced that they have economic and demographic complementarity and a great potential in the joint and mutually beneficial use of their natural and human resources. The highest authorities of both countries are not satisfied with the current level of migration exchanges and are aiming to systematically increase it, reasonably believing that the rational redistribution of labor force in the Russian Far East and Northeast China and the joint development of natural resources not only will ensure a stable improvement of the economic and demographic situation in the region, but also will smooth out interregional and inter-state conflicts. The author analyzes the processes and challenges of migration cooperation and offers measures for its activation, based on the scientific works of Russian and Chinese researchers and expert evaluations performed by immigration personnel. A number of these measures are already being implemented in the practice of cross-border relations, and others are only outlined in in the state development programs for this region. The author comes to a conclusion that the Russian-Chinese cooperation on matters of mutual migration policy is the result of the combination of two factors: an objective and a subjective one. The author comes to a conclusion that with political will, public funding and active social-demographic policy it is possible to build a mutually beneficial model of migration cooperation with China. The author expresses his belief that both countries will be able to overcome all difficulties and obstacles and make Chinese migration to the Far East a usual, understandable and manageable process by relying on each other.

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