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 JointlypublishedwithSocialSciencesAcademicPress TheprinteditionisnotforsaleinChina(Mainland).CustomersfromChina(Mainland)pleaseorderthe printbookfrom:SocialSciencesAcademicPress. ©SocialSciencesAcademicPress2022 Thisworkissubjecttocopyright.AllrightsarereservedbythePublishers,whetherthewholeorpartofthe materialisconcerned,specificallytherightsofreprinting,reuseofillustrations,recitation,broadcasting, reproductiononmicrofilmsorinanyotherphysicalway,andtransmissionorinformationstorageand retrieval,electronicadaptation,computersoftware,orbysimilarordissimilarmethodologynowknown orhereafterdeveloped. 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The registered company address is: 152 Beach Road, #21-01/04 Gateway East, Singapore 189721, Singapore 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).