The Issues of Illegal Immigration and its Solutions in the Minority-Border Regions in Yunnan Province, China: A Look at Hekou Yao Autonomous County

173 Pages·2023·1.975 MB·English

by  Gang Luo

Gang Luo
The Issues of Illegal
Immigration and
its Solutions in the
Minority-Border
Regions in Yunnan
Province, China
A Look at Hekou Yao Autonomous
County
The Issues of Illegal Immigration and its Solutions
in the Minority-Border Regions in Yunnan
Province, China
Gang Luo
The Issues of Illegal
Immigration and its Solutions
in the Minority-Border
Regions in Yunnan Province,
China
A Look at Hekou Yao Autonomous County
GangLuo
YunnanUniversity
Kunming,China
Translatedby
YiquanChen
YunnanUniversity
Kunming,China
SupportedbyaGrantfromtheYunnanUniversityDoubleFirst-ClassInitiative
ISBN 978-981-19-1248-1 ISBN 978-981-19-1249-8 (eBook)
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-19-1249-8
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Contents
1 Introduction ................................................... 1
1 TopicSelectionandItsSignificance ............................. 1
2 LiteratureReview ............................................ 5
3 ResearchDesignandMainApproaches ......................... 19
References ..................................................... 21
2 Overview of Illegal Immigration in Yunnan Border Areas
withaHighConcentrationofEthnicMinorities ................... 23
1 DefinitionsandClarificationsofCoreConcepts .................. 23
1.1 FrontierandBorder ...................................... 23
1.2 MigrationandIllegalMigration ........................... 27
1.3 GovernanceandIllegalImmigrationGovernance ............ 40
2 CategoriesandCharacteristicsofIllegalImmigrationinYunnan
BorderAreaswithaHighConcentrationofEthnicMinorities ...... 41
2.1 Overview of the Yunnan Border Areas with a High
ConcentrationofEthnicMinorities ........................ 41
2.2 CategoriesandCharacteristicsoftheYunnanBorder
AreaswithaHighConcentrationofEthnicMinorities ........ 43
3 CurrentSituationofIllegalImmigrationinHekouCounty ......... 49
3.1 LocationsandMethodsofInvestigation .................... 49
3.2 CurrentSituationofIllegalImmigrants ..................... 55
References ..................................................... 66
3 Causes of Illegal Immigration in Yunnan Border Areas
withaHighConcentrationofEthnicMinorities ................... 69
1 CurrentTheoriesoftheCausesofIllegalImmigration ............. 69
1.1 Overseas Theories Regarding the Causes of Illegal
ImmigrationandTheirLimitations ......................... 69
1.2 Explanations and Implications of the Theories
ontheCausesofIllegalImmigrationProposedbyChinese
Scholars ............................................... 71
v
vi Contents
2 Complicated and Special Causes of Illegal Immigration
inYunnanBorderAreaswithaHighConcentrationofEthnic
Minorities ................................................... 73
2.1 RapidEconomicandSocialDevelopmentasMajorPull
Factors ................................................ 74
2.2 EasyIllegalBorderCrossingDuetoUniqueGeological
EnvironmentandLaxBorderManagement .................. 75
2.3 OptimalImmigration:CostsandRisksofImmigration ........ 76
2.4 CurrentConditionsandPoliciesinYunnan’sNeighboring
CountriesasPushFactors ................................ 79
References ..................................................... 81
4 Impact of Illegal Immigration in Yunnan Border Areas
withaHighConcentrationofEthnicMinorities ................... 83
1 Political,EconomicandSocialImpact .......................... 84
1.1 DisruptingBorderSecurity ............................... 84
1.2 ThreateningPublicSafety ................................ 86
1.3 TriggeringCriminalActivities ............................ 87
2 ImpactonPopulationSecurity ................................. 88
2.1 PopulationSize ......................................... 88
2.2 GeneralCompetenceofthePopulation ..................... 91
3 ImpactonNationalSelf-Identification ........................... 93
3.1 TheoreticalHypotheses .................................. 93
3.2 Conclusion ............................................. 94
4 ImpactonInternationalRelations ............................... 98
4.1 Illegal Immigration Has Significant Implications
forInternationalRelations ................................ 98
4.2 IllegalImmigrationandChina-VietnamRelations ............ 100
References ..................................................... 102
5 PracticesofIllegalImmigrationGovernanceinYunnanBorder
AreaswithaHighConcentrationofEthnicMinorities ............. 103
1 TheGoverningBodies ........................................ 103
1.1 VerticalStructureofGoverningBodies ..................... 103
1.2 HorizontalStructureofGoverningBodies .................. 109
2 GoverningMethods .......................................... 112
2.1 BasisofGovernance ..................................... 112
2.2 DifficultiesinGovernance ................................ 116
2.3 JudicialAssistance ...................................... 127
References ..................................................... 130
6 Policy Response toIllegal Immigration in Yunnan Border
AreaswithaHighConcentrationofEthnicMinorities ............. 131
1 BorderPolicies .............................................. 131
1.1 WhatChinaCanLearnfromBorderPolicyinFrance,
theUSandRussia ....................................... 131
Contents vii
1.2 China’s Border Policies: Establishment and Basic
Principles .............................................. 137
2 TheRuleofLaw ............................................. 142
2.1 Legislation ............................................. 142
2.2 LawEnforcement ....................................... 145
3 OvercomingDifficulties ....................................... 147
3.1 BorderManagement ..................................... 147
3.2 LegalStatus ............................................ 153
References ..................................................... 158
7 Conclusion:BuildingChina’sIllegalImmigrationGovernance
System ........................................................ 161
Afterword ........................................................ 167
Bibliography ...................................................... 169
Chapter 1
Introduction
1 TopicSelectionandItsSignificance
(1) TopicSelection
OnApril29,2011,China’sNationalBureauofStatistics(NBS)releasedthe“Major
FiguresonResidentsofHongKong,MacaoandTaiwanandForeignersfromthesixth
NationalPopulationCensusin2010.”WithNovember1,2010midnightasthecutoff,
thecensuscovered,forthefirsttime,residentsofHongKong,MacaoandTaiwanand
foreignerslivingwithintheterritoryofChina.1Amongthe1,020,145residentswho
fellintothiscategoryandwerecounted,234,829werefromtheHongKongSpecial
AdministrativeRegion(SAR),21,201werefromMacaoSAR,170,283werefrom
Taiwan,and593,832wereforeignnationals.Thetenareaswiththehighestconcen-
tration of these individuals were, in descending order: Guangdong Province with
316,138 persons; Shanghai with 208,602; Beijing with 107,445; Jiangsu Province
with64,177;FujianProvincewith62,564;YunnanProvincewith47,396;Zhejiang
Province with 36,380; Shandong Province with 33,098; Liaoning Province with
23,834persons;andGuangxiZhuangAutonomousRegionwith23,445.Asidefrom
these,97,066personslivedinotherprovinces(autonomous regionsorcities).The
tenlargestgroupsofexpatriateslivinginChinawere,indescendingorder:120,750
fromtheRepublicofKorea,71,493fromtheUS,66,159fromJapan,39,776from
1“ResidentsofHongKong,MacaoandTaiwanandforeigners”refertotheresidentsofHongKong,
MacaoandTaiwanandforeignerswhohadresidedorwouldresidewithintheterritoryofChinafor
overthreemonthsfromthereferencetimeofthecensus,whilethoseshortlystayingforbusiness,
travelorotherpurposeswerenotincluded.SeetheNBSwebsite:http://www.stats.gov.cn/tjgb/rkp
cgb/qgrkpcgb/t20110429_402722560.htm.AccessedJuly11,2011.
©SocialSciencesAcademicPress2022 1
G.Luo,TheIssuesofIllegalImmigrationanditsSolutionsintheMinority-BorderRegions
inYunnanProvince,China,https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-19-1249-8_1
2 1 Introduction
Myanmar,36,205fromVietnam,19,990fromCanada,15,087fromFrance,15,051
fromIndia, 14,446 from Germany and 13,286 fromAustralia.There were another
181,589foreignresidentsfromothercountrieslivinginChina.2
When looking into the data, we can determine that the first-ever inclusion of
residentsofHongKong,MacaoandTaiwanandforeignerslivingwithintheterritory
ofChinainthecensuswasofspecialsignificance.Leadingexpertsofimmigration
studiesTomasHammarandGreteBrochmannsharesimilarviewsaboutthedefinition
of immigration. They both hold that an “immigrant is a person who migrates to a
countryandthenactuallyresidestherelongerthanaperiodoftime,i.e.,formorethan
threemonths.”3Theirdefinitionhasthefollowingcharacteristics:first,“immigrant”
isusedinthenarrowsensetoreferonlytopeoplewhomigratebetweencountries,
while people who migrate within their home countries are not included; second,
bothimmigrationandemigrationarecross-borderpopulationmovementsbythose
whomigratetoandresideinanothercountryformorethanacertainperiod(three
months)atatime;third,peoplewhostayinanothercountryforlessthanthreemonths
are excluded. Moreover, scholars, students, artists and those who stay in another
countryasvisitorsformorethanthreemonthsarenotconsideredimmigrants.4This
definitionappliestothecorrespondinggroupcoveredinthesixthNationalPopulation
CensusoftheNBS.Itisworthnotingthatinlegalterms,foreignersincludepeople
of other nationalities and stateless persons. In China, the term “foreigner” refers
to anybody who is not a Chinese national. Within certain contexts and for certain
purposes,residentsofHongKong,MacaoandTaiwanareregardedasforeignersdue
tohistoricalreasons.
ResidentsofHongKong,MacaoandTaiwanandforeignersresidingwithinthe
territory of China were included in the census for the first time by the NBS but
werenotclassifiedas“immigrants.”Themainreasonsforthisareasfollows:first,
atthetime,therewasnoofficialdefinitionof“immigrant”inChina,norwasthere
consensus among Chinese experts and scholars on this issue. Furthermore, even
at present, China does not have uniform immigration legislation. Second, Chinese
peopletypicallyassociate“immigration”withoutboundmigration5amongChinese
people.Afterall,China,withitsvastterritoryandlargepopulation,doesnotsuffer
fromashortageofpeople,amongallthings.Therefore,theChinesepeoplemayfindit
hardtounderstandtheconceptof“immigration”inChina.6Thisdeep-rootedmindset
maymakeitdifficultforthegeneralpublictounderstandtheword“immigrants”in
the population census. However, in terms of academic research, these 1,020,145
residents can be regarded as immigrants residing in the country. According to the
2The NBS website: http://www.stats.gov.cn/tjgb/rkpcgb/qgrkpcgb/t20110429_402722560.htm.
AccessedJuly11,2011.
3Hammar(1985),Brochmann(1999).
4The analysis of the definition of immigrant, see Xu (2005), p. 6. Personally, I believe people
residinginacountryasguestsincludethosestayingthereforbusinessandtravel.
5Outboundmigrationisthesameasemigration.Trans.
6The sixth National Population Census in 2010 showed that the overall population was
1,370,536,875. See the NBS website: http://www.stats.gov.cn/tjgb/rkpcgb/qgrkpcgb/t20110429_
402722560.htm.AccessedJuly11,2011.
1 TopicSelectionandItsSignificance 3
official data, the nearly 1.02 million persons who “were residing in the territory
of China and were counted in the census” did not include those immigrants “who
were residing in the territory of China but not counted in the census,”, i.e., illegal
immigrants.Iaminterestedinfindinganswerstothefollowingquestions:Howmany
illegalimmigrantsarelivingwithintheterritoryofChina?Whataretheirmotivesfor
“immigrating”toChina?Whatimpactsdotheyhaveonlocalsocialandeconomic
life?Finally,howshouldillegalimmigrantsinChinabemanaged?
Whenanalyzingthedata,Icameuponaperplexingquestion.Regardingthemoti-
vatingfactorsofinternationalmigration,inthenineteenthcentury,Americansoci-
ologist E.G. Ravenstein put forward the famous “push–pull theory,” which holds
thatmigrationistheresultofbothpushandpullfactors.7Inthe“push–pullmodel,”
“pushfactors”refertorepulsiveforcesthataredetrimentaltopeople’ssubsistence
and development in their places of origin, which can be wars, riots, catastrophes
ordeteriorationofecologicalenvironmentorotherfactorswithwidespreadeffects
on a region, or accidents or unfortunate incidents on a particular group of people,
while the “pull factors” refer to the attraction of receiving places, which may be
novelorexceptionalopportunitiesforaspecificgroupofpeople.8Accordingtothis
theory,arapidlydevelopingChinashouldhave“pullfactors”forsomeimmigrants.
Due to China’s uneven economic development on its vast land, the eastern region
withfastereconomic growthshouldhavegreater “pullfactors”forimmigrants,so
thereshouldbeagreaternumberofimmigrantsindevelopedareasalongthesouth-
eastcoast,whilesouthwesternChina’sYunnanProvince,relativelylaggingbehind
in social and economic development, should have smaller “pull factors.” If that is
thecase,whydidYunnanProvinceranksixthintermsofthepopulationofimmi-
grants,higherthanthebetter-offprovincesofZhejiangandShandong?Asidefrom
geographicalfactors,whataretheotherfactorsresultinginMyanmarandVietnam
ranking fourth and fifth among the top 10 countries of origin of foreign residents
livingwithinChina?
Ihavelongbeenconcernedwithborderstabilityandsecurityissues,especially
nontraditionalsecurityissues,intheYunnanborderareaswithahighconcentrationof
ethnicminorities.Sincetheissueofsanfei(literally“threeillegals,”namely,illegal
entry, illegal residence and illegal employment) has long concerned government
departments,mypreviousstudiesfocusedmoreontheanalysisofcountermeasuresto
sanfeiorillegalcross-borderpopulationmovementsandwasnotheavilytheoretical.
Infact,sanfei,orillegalcross-borderpopulationmovements,canbeincludedinthe
contextofillegalinternationalmigration,andthosepeoplecanberegardedasillegal
immigrantsintheYunnanborderareas;thus,relevantChineseandforeigntheories
canbeappliedforanalysisandfurtherstudy.Intermsofillegalimmigrantsinthe
Yunnanborderareas,Iammostlyinterestedinthefollowingquestions:Whydothey
chooseYunnan,aplacethatisrelativelyunderdevelopedeconomicallyandsocially,
7Some scholars hold that the “push–pull theory” is not a real theory, but the description and
conclusionoftheEuropeanimmigrationinthenineteenthcentury.SeeQiu(2005).
8Li(2009).