Azernews.Az

Immigration of Chinese nationals to Azerbaijan has increased several times in the past years, independent researchers have found.
Whereas their number made up 1,000 in previous years, the figure reached 3,000 in 2007 and as many as 6,000 in the first quarter of 2008, according to research by non-governmental organizations.
Among South Caucasus states, Azerbaijan has the largest Chinese community. Immigration law experts say Chinese citizens do not come to the country by mere chance. They charge that there are government officials supporting them, in particular, facilitating their arrival by taking bribes. It is for this reason that all of these persons' documents are in order. Moreover, researchers have established that most of the immigrating Chinese are youths, and their children subsequently receive Azerbaijani citizenship. The number of Chinese people is therefore expected to continue rising at a higher pace in the near future.
Azerbaijan's media have reported citing the official Jenmin Jibao news agency that China is seeking to lease 50,000 hectares of arable land in the country. The Chinese agriculture ministry may take this land on lease for a period of 25 years, the reports said.
The spokesman for the Azerbaijan Agriculture Ministry, Murtuzali Hajiyev, said the government had not received such a proposal from China but Baku welcomed the initiative in general.
"Azerbaijan's legislation allows foreigners including the Chinese to take land on lease in the country, and we do not pose any obstacles for this. But they are not allowed to buy land.
"I believe that the lease by the Chinese would bring profits to the country and create conditions for providing local residents with jobs," Hajiyev said.
But some analysts maintain that the lease would imply "a cultural invasion" of Azerbaijani land. They are wary that since the Chinese population is rapidly growing, they will face restrictions on their activities in these areas in a few years and could move "to invade" other territories of Azerbaijan in the future under the pretext of a lease. The Khrakhoba and Uryanoba villages in the Khachmaz district located 50 km away from the Russian border are a graphic example of this. The land occupying 300 hectares was temporarily granted as pasture areas to Daghestan, Russia's administrative area, on a decision of the Soviet Union in 1954. In 1984, the government of the Azerbaijan Republic which was then part of the USSR extended the validity of the document until 2004. Although the agreement has long expired, Russia is leveling claims to this territory. Therefore, presuming that the Chinese whose numbers are on upward trend would leave Azerbaijan upon completion of the lease would be naive.