Businesses ‘Getting Killed’ on Russian Border as Coronavirus Fears Rise

The virus conspiracy tales are reminiscent of the early days of HIV, when the Soviets were spreading--both officially and surreptitiously--the story that the AIDs virus was a product of a CIA biomedical plot gone wrong. Some versions of Soviet propaganda were more specific--HIV was intended originally as a means for undermining the population of African countries. How much more damaging that kind of Soviet propaganda might have been if Russian intelligence agencies had then possessed the same kind of social media capacity the Kremlin now exploits in manipulating public opinion and meddling in elections in the United States and elsewhere.

I was in Khabarovsk, east of this city, in the 1990s. The Amur River regularly froze over and people walked across the ice between the two countries. Is that still possible, and if so, how are the Russians blocking people from China?

Covid-19 is sacking business across the globe with more to come but SARS came and went 17 years ago. Western Russia is an open patch for development to China with already large sections under Chinese cultivation. And Global warming with make any hold on northern land an asset, if you want to add decades. The American take on Covid-19 according to Fox News and a Senator from Arkansas is a bio-medical armament lab in Wuhan – Sinophobia is so rewarding to some.

What?! A clandestine American government laboratory developing a heinous disease then secretly getting into China to discredit their economy & image & success? Why, who would ever think a thing like that when our government is so transparent. As evidenced by the U.S. persecution of Julian Assange in Britian right now, because he dared to expose our endless shenanigans aka war crimes.

I actually had the opportunity to travel to this border, from the Chinese side at Heihe, this past May. While I'm sure the economy is crippling right now, it should be contextualized in a decade of continuous decline in activity between these two cities, regardless of official government narratives with Belt and Road. Everyone we spoke to on the Chinese side said that interaction between their two countries has significantly declined since the Russian Ruble devaluation in 2014. Further compounding the problem is that the border economy has historically relied on petty trading (prices were cheaper for different products on both sides) which has been almost entirely wiped out due to the rise of internet commerce. People there are struggling, and it remains to be seen if the bridge mentioned in the article will lead to meaningful opportunities for residents on either side. Same with the natural gas pipeline recently opened between the two cities. The virus is certainly aggravating these existing issues, and it's interesting to think about these twin cities' struggles as a fascinating microcosm of how the relationship between two powers shapes out on the ground.

I have been travelling to China rather consistently since 2004. I keep an apartment in Shenyang, a few hundred miles south of this city, and have spent considerable time in the Yanbian region, where China borders the DPRK. The situation is dire throughout the entire Dongbei region. There are many Russians as well Koreans who live and work in Dongbei. The three countries interact well together and have grown quite co-dependent on trade. COVID-19 thus will be devastating to all three economies and potentially destabilizing. Americans ignore what is transpiring there at their peril.

"Aleksandr Kozhin, a Russian who lives mostly in Heihe but is now stuck on the Russian side of the river, is such a fervent admirer of China’s economic and political model that he thinks a secret American laboratory could have created the new coronavirus as a weapon to undermine China’s success and image." Good to know that viral conspiracy-mongers, propagandists and the worst instincts of humanity shall never perish from the human species.

Of course you found some Russian alcoholic who uses vodka as a medicine. Have you tried to ask someone who is adequate?

"Also suffering is China’s image as a benign force from which Russia can only reap benefit." There is some insane racial profiling going on in Russia these days. Facial recognition is being used to track Chinese nationals and who they interact with. See https://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/moscow-targets-chinese-raids-amid-virus-fears-69157387

Besides all that, China is not telling us the truth about how the virus started or how many are truly infected. They lie as much as, or more than, Donald Trump. They won't let any news out that is negative about China, unless it is very bad and they can't deal with it by killing their own people. I'd guess that things are much worse than they let on. 3 weeks ago, 60 people infected, 1 or 2 dead. Now, 75,000 plus, couple thousand dead.

Since this virus appears to have originated in Chinese markets for wildlife meat, perhaps the halting of cross-border traffic with Russia is justice for the destruction of nature that occurred with the downfall of the USSR and the opening of illegal wildlife parts trade with China.

Tangential comment here but really fascinating to see the super fat tire bicycles for sale in the Three Wales market. Glad to see that snow riding is happening all over the world!

I have been to Blagoveshchensk in 1994 after the fall of Communism. We were there as a USA Wrestling Team competing. I can tell you that the Chinese and Russian do not like each other. The river Amur separates them. They all contaminate the Amur river so no one can benefit from it. Only in the winter time do they trade. Russia traded military items like trucks and China food stuff such as grains. The hotel industry in Russia is in the escort business. And the Chinese business men love it because it doesn't exist in the city across the Amur. What is concerning is neither side has any infrastructure hospitals, medicine, doctors, nurses, facilities to combat the coronavirus. These two cities are third world. Blagoveshchensk is an industrial military complex whereas the Chinese city on the other side exist to be a thorne in Russia's rear end. Be concerned because this region of Russia is close to Alaska and Canada.

The Chinese Government may well manage to squelch the spread of the Coronavirus. But if they ultimately fail to contain it, the breaches will take place in the remote provinces of China, which are poorer, have fewer resources to cope with an outbreak, and where the Central Chinese Government has always been less effective at asserting its control. It's interesting that the Global Markets are only now finally beginning to price in the possibility of a Pandemic.

Losing art, cultural exchange, international understanding or education: that matters. Losing commerce, for the sake of protecting lives? Do we really have to think twice about that? I have little sympathy for builders of “mini empires” of apartment blocs in this frontier town, for the Chinese state forcing its citizens back to work before the epidemic is under control, or for American corporations trying to keep Chinese shipments going despite the hazards. We have lost all sight of what is really important in this overly commercialized world.