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✪ Zhou Ping | Department of Political Science, Yunnan University
【Introduction】
Recently, the outbreak of the epidemic in Ejinaqi, Inner Mongolia, Heihe City, Heilongjiang and other places has touched people's hearts, and an article entitled "Ruili Needs the Love of the Motherland" calls on the people of the whole country to support Ruili, a small border town of China and Myanmar that is facing socio-economic pressure during the epidemic, which has also aroused widespread concern.
The "Ruili phenomenon" is a microcosm of the governance of China's vast "land frontier". China's land border is 22,800 kilometers long, bordering 14 neighbors
It plays an irreplaceable role in national development. However, this article points out that for a long time, the public's attention to the frontier has generally been two kinds of impressions: one is that the frontier is a place of "wind and snow", remote and backward, can be pinned on feelings, but has a limited effect on national development; the other is that the frontier society is unstable and has its own limitations. In fact
Nowadays, the status of frontiers in China's governance and development has undergone fundamental changes, and with the implementation of outward-looking strategies such as the "Belt and Road", the importance of frontier governance has never been highlighted. But I have to admit that the land frontier is still facing an embarrassing situation,
It is an area with relatively weak, more problems and contradictions, and higher stability and security risks in the overall development of the country, and problems such as empty borders, infiltration by external forces, and insufficient governance resources are still prominent.
The author believes that drawing on the example of a country building a maritime power and rapidly reversing the weakening of the sea frontier, if the land frontier is comprehensively and effectively governed, it is entirely possible to become the frontier of national development, the national export-oriented strategic support point, the connection point and channel between China and the outside world, and then become a new growth pole for national development.
This article was originally published in New Horizons, No. 5, 2017, originally titled "Land Frontier: A New Growth Pole for National Development",
The views of the author are expressed only. Space is limited, and excerpts are hereby compiled and distributed for your consideration.
Land Frontier:
A new growth pole for national development
The land frontier of our country is a special area within the national territory. Under different historical conditions, its position in national governance and its significance to national development are very different. Today, our country has shifted from a period of comprehensive construction to a period of comprehensive development. The country's deep integration into the world is also deeply influenced by the world, pursuing all-round development and is rising rapidly. The new situation of national governance and national development has generated strong expectations for the land frontier, which has long been a special region in the national geographical space that has not been valued, and has a strong expectation that it will play a greater role. Under such conditions, based on the overall deployment of national governance and development, focusing on giving play to the role of land frontiers in national development, promoting the development of land frontiers through comprehensive and effective border management, and turning land frontiers into new growth poles for national development has become a major issue that must be seriously treated.
▍ The land frontier is not a place of wind and snow
The public's attention and enthusiasm for the frontier did not appear by accident, but the inevitable result of the country's economic and social development and the people's living standards reaching a certain level. However, at present, the works that stimulate people's attention and enthusiasm for the frontier basically describe or reflect the natural scenery and customs of the frontier, giving people the impression that the frontier is a place of "wind and snow". In this impression, the scenery of the frontier is steep and beautiful, but it is remote and backward, which can be pinned on feelings, but its role in national development is limited. In addition, it has been argued that the frontier "is, on the one hand, frequent violence, and on the other hand, the dilemma of development itself." The former has gradually negativeized the impression of the frontier in mainstream society, and the 'frontier' seems to have become an incurable chronic disease that threatens social stability; the latter shows the limitations of development."
In the long dynastic state era from the Qin Dynasty to the Qing Dynasty, the history with dynastic succession as the main content reflected the characteristics of circulation, and the border cognition and frontier concept of dynastic countries lacked the motivation to change. The traditional perception of the frontier and the substantial change in the concept of the frontier occurred at a time when Another national political system that could compete with the ancient dynasties, Tsarist Russia, was approaching. In the 10 years after 1643, Tsarist Russia expanded its power three times into the Heilongjiang River Basin of China. After the Qing Dynasty's two counterattacks in 1685 and 1686 curbed Tsarist Expansion to the East, The Sino-Russian Treaty of Nebuchu was signed through negotiations on August 27, 1689. Subsequently, the Treaty of Brunschi was signed on 1 September 1727. The two treaties gave the dynastic state a fixed border and set a precedent for determining the border of the state by treaty. In this way, the dynastic state not only demarcated the frontier from the inside out with the central seat of the dynasty, but also began to demarcate the frontier from the outside to the inland from the border as the starting point, so that the traditional concept of frontier full of cultural connotations sprouted a sense of region.
The essential change in the traditional perception of frontiers and the concept of frontiers occurred after the founding of the People's Republic of China. After the Xinhai Revolution overthrew the last dynasty, China began the historical process of building a nation-state, and basically completed the construction of a nation-state when the People's Republic of China was founded. The People's Republic of China is the nation-state of the Chinese nation. With the transformation of the state form, the previous frontier cognition, frontier concept, as well as the corresponding frontier system, the strategy and policy of frontier governance, etc., have been reconstructed according to the requirements of the nation-state and the needs of governance, resulting in major changes in the traditional frontier cognition and frontier concept.
After the development of history to the present, China's traditional frontier cognition and frontier concept have added new content, but they have not achieved a fundamental transformation. The paradigm of viewing and defining the frontier from the core area of the country, and the strategy of subordinating the governance of the frontier to and serving the governance of the core area in the governance of the country continues. Under the condition that the ruling party attaches great importance to the national issue, the profound cultural connotation in the traditional frontier cognition and frontier concept has been further strengthened. Frontiers are often identified as "frontier ethnic areas" or even referred to directly as "ethnic areas". The governance of the country's frontiers has also been placed under the framework of the national question and the State Nationalities Committee is responsible. In such a framework, the frontier is naturally regarded as a remote place, with natural scenery that is very different from the inland, such as mountains, rivers, grasslands and deserts, with diverse ethnic cultures, strong ethnic customs, special production methods and lifestyles, but located in remote areas, and lagging behind in economic and social development.
However, the changes in the situation of national development have put forward new requirements for the cognition and concept of frontiers. After the Third Plenary Session of the Eleventh Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, the internal conditions and external relations of national development have inevitably had a fundamental impact on the angle, thinking and way of defining frontiers within the scope of the country' boundaries, requiring that the frontier be viewed from the perspective of the nation-state and state governance and development.
▍ The land frontier is in an awkward situation
Under different historical conditions, the situation of the country itself and the external environment in which it is located are very different, and the goals pursued by the state and the strategy of national governance are also different. Therefore, there are great differences in the importance that the state attaches to the frontier, the requirements for the frontier, and the resources that the state can invest in the governance of the frontier. From another point of view, the significance of frontiers to national development and the historical mission undertaken by frontiers change with different historical eras.
Today, the situation on China's land frontier has undergone major changes. On the one hand, when stepping into the threshold of the new century, China has achieved the goal of the second stage of the three-step modernization, and the people's living standards have generally reached the level of moderate prosperity. On the other hand, China's economy is deeply integrated with the world economy, and the outward orientation of national development has also increased significantly. In this case, the land frontier on the edge of the country's border and bordering other countries is not only the fulcrum for handling China's relations with neighboring countries, but also the support point for a series of export-oriented strategies, especially geopolitical strategies. In the ongoing construction of the "Belt and Road", the supporting role of land frontiers is becoming increasingly prominent.
However, judging from the situation of today's land frontiers, there is still a large distance between its supporting role in national development and its expectations for national development. First, economic and social development is obviously lagging behind. On the whole, the economic and social development of the frontier areas is obviously lagging behind, and its level of development is far lower than that of the core areas. This backwardness is not in a certain frontier area, but a kind of backwardness of the whole. From an economic point of view, economic backwardness is more common due to poor natural conditions, as well as late development and low degree of development - backward production methods and low economic aggregates, and the people's living standards are low; economic backwardness has led to insufficient infrastructure, lack of various factors to promote or be conducive to economic development, and insufficient ability for further economic development. Moreover, the gap between the level and capacity of economic development is further widening.
Second, the pressure of social instability is greater. The instability of frontier society is rooted in the contradiction between the tradition of the frontier areas and the growing modernity of the whole country. Historically, economic and social development in the frontier areas has lagged behind, and there are huge differences between their production methods and lifestyles and the core areas. In the process of rapid modernization of the whole country, on the edge of the country and far from the political, social and cultural centers of the country and the provinces, the speed of change is slower due to the restrictions of the natural environment and the barrier of transportation, so there is a contrast and conflict between the traditional and the modernity of the whole country, thus providing a hotbed for the brewing and fermentation of various factors and contradictions affecting social stability. On this basis, the contradictions of interests in development, the resistance and friction between different cultures or religions, and the instigation and incitement of external forces will all evolve into social contradictions, and contradictions and conflicts are often added to the "national" color, and even directly packaged and shaped into "national issues", which will have an impact on the social stability of the frontier.
Third, the mechanism for consolidating borders and stabilizing borders is not yet perfect. Land frontiers border other countries, often have no natural barriers, there is no obstacle to crossing the border, and in some places pedestrians will set foot on the land of other countries if they are not careful. Moreover, many parts of the national border are still very remote, in the midst of deep mountains and dense forests, providing convenience and opportunities for the infiltration or intrusion of external factors or forces, thus exposing the land frontier to the pressure of the constant influence of external factors. To cope with such challenges, it is necessary to have a sound set of mechanisms for consolidating borders and stabilizing borders, military patrol mechanisms, military control mechanisms, border management mechanisms, grass-roots control mechanisms, joint defense mechanisms for soldiers and people, and mechanisms for staying in the land, all of which rely on border villages and border residents living in border areas. However, in some areas of the land border, the above mechanism is not sound. Border residents living near the border have moved away, other mechanisms have not been relied on, the phenomenon of border emptiness has become prominent, and unmanaged border trails are widespread, leaving hidden dangers for the stability and consolidation of the border.
Fourth, the impact of overseas factors continues to increase. Since China's opening up to the outside world, the impact of foreign factors on land frontiers has been on the rise. With the rapid development of Our country in the context of globalization, and China's development itself has become an important achievement of globalization, China has become more and more integrated into the world, so the economic and cultural ties and personnel exchanges between the land frontier and neighboring countries have become increasingly close. With the advancement of the "Belt and Road" construction, the impact of foreign factors on the frontier will be further deepened, and gradually expand from the economy to culture, society, politics and security, from individual phenomena to regularization and scale. Many of these effects, such as the disorderly movement of people, smuggling across borders, illegal immigration, and the influx of war refugees, are potentially risky. The social contradictions in Europe caused by the large influx of refugees should arouse the necessary vigilance. The infiltration of external forces into the grass-roots political power in the frontier has also shown an upward trend. All of this has a potential impact on border security, and even becomes an ant nest that can destroy the of thousands of miles.
Fifth, the governance capacity does not meet the requirements of the situation. The emergence and existence of the frontier problem is an inevitable phenomenon of the land frontier. In addition to the same regional problems as the core, the land frontier also has a series of complex frontier problems. Effectively addressing these problems in the governance of the frontier is a necessary condition for achieving stability and tranquility in the frontier. In order to deal with various frontier problems, China has formed a government system, a governance system composed of garrisons (border guards, armed police), and special governance mechanisms such as village-based task forces. However, from the current reality of land frontiers, the existing governance system may not be able to meet the requirements of the situation. First, the degree of support and soundness of these governance mechanisms still needs to be improved, the second is that the governance resources of the local governments in the border areas as the main body of governance are insufficient, and the third is that the strength and resources invested by the state in the governance of the frontiers are insufficient and there are too many debts.
▍ Turn land frontiers into a new growth pole for development
Compared with the development of the core area, the land frontier is still backward, there are many problems, and even multiple risks are implied. There are roughly the following reasons for the formation of this situation: First, under the condition of a low level of productive forces, the land frontiers with poor natural conditions do not yet have the conditions for development; second, the role of border governance in history is limited and has not been able to promote the full development of border areas; third, although New China attaches importance to border governance, it is limited by financial resources and capabilities, and the resources invested in border governance are limited, and the intensity of land border governance is insufficient.
In the overall pattern of national governance and development, the core content of land frontier governance is the development and construction of land frontiers. The state's planning and deployment of land frontier governance involves the development and utilization of the entire geographical space. The state is essentially a political geospatial unit, and the governance of the state takes place in this space, so it is inseparable from the planning and utilization of this geospatial space. The development and utilization of geographical space by the state generally follows the following law: First, select those most favorable and convenient geographical spaces for development and utilization, and are in the stage of selecting points for development; subsequently, after the development of selected points reaches a considerable level, according to the needs of governance and the resources at hand, select a number of regions for key development, so as to enter the key development stage; then, on the basis of the effective use of geographical space by key development and the enhancement of national capacity, On the basis of comprehensive planning for the entire geographical space, the state will carry out comprehensive development of the entire geographical space in order to maximize the value of the geographical space. With the changes and development of the situation, the nature and status of today's land frontiers and the positioning of frontier governance have undergone major changes.
First, the conditions for the development and utilization of land frontiers have been greatly improved. China's terrain is high in the west and low in the east, with a stepped distribution, rivers from west to east, and less precipitation in the west than in the east. Based on such topography, most of the land frontiers are mountains, rivers, deserts, Gobi, grasslands, the terrain is broken, remote, and the traffic is blocked. In the case of low levels of productivity and technological inequality, it is inevitable that restrictions will be placed on the development of land frontiers. However, today's situation is very different from the past, China's land development capacity has undergone a qualitative leap, a single super bridge building ability can make thousands of years of natural barriers into a way, thus greatly improving the conditions for the development and construction of land frontiers, the country is fully capable of comprehensive development of land frontiers.
Second, the country's demand for land frontier development has increased significantly. After the total population and economic aggregates have both increased significantly, the country's economic activity and economic growth's desire for geographical space have also increased as never before. Those remote and low-level areas of the land frontier, with lush vegetation, beautiful mountains and rivers, and fresh air, have the conditions for development and become a new space with huge utilization value. Once effectively developed, these "new spaces" may form a pulling effect on the economic development of the region and even the entire country. After the state promotes the construction of the "Belt and Road", the land frontier has an irreplaceable value. In short, leaving aside the rich resources of the land frontier (mineral resources, tourism resources, strategic resources), the value of the geographical space of the land frontier alone has increased unprecedentedly.
Third, the country already has the ability to invest more resources in land frontiers. The rapid development of modernization after the reform and opening up, especially the rapid economic growth that has continued for nearly 40 years, has not only completely changed the face of poverty and backwardness in China, but also accumulated huge wealth for the country and formed a strong national capacity. Based on such national strength and national capacity, the state is fully equipped to fundamentally change the past situation of insufficient resources invested in the development and construction of the frontier, and to invest more resources in the governance of the land frontier. The combination of strong development capacity and sufficient resource investment will certainly enable certain areas of the land frontier to play a role in "turning waste into treasure".
Fourth, the country's emphasis on land frontier governance has increased significantly. This is of great significance to the governance of the frontier. Today's national decision-making level has not only put forward the strategy of "governing the country must rule the border", but also deployed the land frontier governance from the top-level design of the national governance through a series of measures to strengthen the governance of the frontier, thus elevating the governance of the land frontier to an unprecedented height and creating important conditions for the strengthening of the governance of the land frontier.
In addition, the development and utilization of geographical space by the state has also entered the stage of comprehensive development. The Eighteenth National Congress of the Communist Party of China clearly put forward the concept of "land space", emphasizing the need to "optimize the pattern of land space development" and "establish a land space development protection system", while considering and planning different areas of the territory into the overall governance of the country, it also contributed to the comprehensive planning of the entire land space. The governance of maritime frontiers provides a compelling example. After the state attaches importance to the marine frontier and makes the decision to build a maritime power, the intensity of the governance of the maritime frontier has been significantly enhanced, and the strength and resources invested by the state in the governance of the maritime frontier have increased significantly, thus rapidly reversing the weakening of the marine frontier, effectively supporting the implementation of the national strategy, and providing more and more important support for china's rise. After comprehensive and effective governance, the land frontier is fully likely to become the frontier of national development, the country's export-oriented strategic support point, the connection point and channel between China and the outside world, and then become a new growth pole for national development, playing a greater and more important role in national development.
This article was originally published in New Horizons, No. 5, 2017, originally titled "Land Frontier: A New Growth Pole for National Development", welcome to share, please contact the copyright owner for media reprint.
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