China’s Quiet Push Into Russia’s Far East Puts Putin in a Pickle

Though Beijing and Moscow have touted their “unlimited partnership” on the global stage, a far-eastern corner of Russia has caught China’s eye. The border region of Primorsky Krai has seen a surge of Chinese farmers, and their growing economic clout is outcompeting locals, reported Nikkei, a Japanese newspaper. The region, ceded to Russia by the Qing dynasty in 1860, has become a subject of interest for policymakers in Beijing and Chinese nationalists. Last year, the government decreed the country’s maps should include Haishenwai—the Chinese name for Vladivostok, the administrative center of Primorsky Krai—and the Chinese names of seven other far-eastern…