Immigration Laws: November, 2001 - Number #13

China will join the World Trade Organization in 2002. Duties on imported farm produce are to be lowered from 22 percent in 2001 to 17 percent over five years, and some quotas are to disappear. As a result, unemployment is expected to rise as agriculture and other Chinese industries restructure.

More farmers are expected to migrate to urban areas, and those that remain on farms will have to change crops to be economically viable. According to Zhu Zhongli, professor of the International Trade Department at Shanghai's Financial and Economic University, "Agriculture is the weakest part of China's economy... Peasants need to plant more fruit, and cultivate seafood like crab and lobster which have a higher value and can be exported." Credit Lyonnais Securities Asia estimated that the incomes of 650 million peasants in inland provinces rose by seven yuan (less than a dollar) a year between 1985 and 1997.

China's state-owned industrial concerns shed about 35 million jobs the last five years and government-controlled collectives laid off 16 million more. WTO entry is expected to lead to 30 million more layoffs.

Hukou. On October 1, 2001, China relaxed its household registration or hukou system, adopted in 1958, so that migrants who can prove they have a legal home and a stable source of income can obtain a residence permit in the place where they live. Until now, migrants have been treated as unauthorized migrants in the cities where they live, and denied access to housing and public services.

For example, authorities in one district of Beijing closed 50 private primary schools serving 10,000 children in the southeast of Beijing, where many migrants live. The teachers are often migrants from the same rural areas as the children, and they charge less than $50 a semester, while public schools charge almost $200 a semester; many migrant families earn $75 to $100 a month.

There are an estimated 130 million migrants- 10 percent of all Chinese- living away from the place in which they are registered. A letter of complaint from a migrant entitled, The Hukou System: Racial Discrimination with Chinese Characteristics, published earlier in 2001, expressed the frustration of the one billion Chinese who are registered in rural areas and thus have limited mobility.

Young people in rural China are expected to benefit from the loosening of the registration system. Without permits, they could not get government housing or send their children to school, and were subject to police harassment. Black-market permits to live in cities such as Beijing sell for $12,000 each; although some smaller cities and provincial capitals have begun to sell residence permits to migrants at lower prices.

About 40 percent of the 2.2 million residents of China's Yanbian Korean Autonomous Prefecture are ethnically Korean; Yanbian is one of 30 areas where ethnic groups that live in compact communities are allowed to administer their internal affairs. Some 1,200 South Koreans have invested about $600 million in business ventures in Yanbian, and many Korean-Chinese go to South Korea to work: "People go to South Korea as illegal workers. When they come back, they bring in the money. They open stores, open up the markets."

Hong Kong. The Hong Kong government is encouraging more local women to apply to be domestic helpers; there are about 223,000 domestic helpers in Hong Kong; most are Filipino, and most earn the minimum wage of HK$3670 ($471). One Hong Kong woman, Sek Siu-fun, was sentenced to prison for attacking her maid.

Unemployment reached a record 5.3 percent of the 3.4 million labor force in September 2001.

Under current law, persons who live legally in Hong Kong for at least seven years can become permanent residents, and 1,000 Chinese officials stationed in Hong Kong have been granted permanent residency since the territory returned to Chinese rule in July 1997. Under a proposed change in law, Chinese officials would not be able to become permanent residents by being posted in Hong Kong.

Taiwan. The Taiwanese government relaxed restrictions on visits by merchants and business professionals from mainland China, a move the island hopes will help make it a hub for commerce in Asia. The Mainland Affairs Council--responsible for Taiwan's China policy--said the waiting period for Chinese merchants to receive visas has been reduced to five days from two months

The Council of Labor Affairs said it is considering allowing workers from Burma, Cambodia, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Mongolia to work in Taiwan.