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More than 60,000 Chinese did business as shop keepers and importers in Moscow’s Cherkizovsky market. It was, the Chinese Chamber of Commerce in Moscow said, the largest Chinese community in Russia. So when Russian authorities closed the market in late June, citing smuggling concerns, it raised questions about whether the shutdown was a justified response to real violations of the law, or simply a targeted operation to remove legal Chinese competition.

Since its establishment in the 1990s, the Cherkizovsky market has a major source of cheap imports in Russia. 98 percent of them are from China, according to the Xinhua News Agency.

As a result, some have questioned whether its closing was prompted by rising anti-Chinese sentiment rather than real violations of the law. For instance, a July 16 report by the Associated Press noted that the closure of the market “comes amid rising hostility toward dark-skinned migrants” among Russians, as the ongoing economic meltdown put millions there out of work.

But Dmitri Trenin, director of the Carnegie Moscow Center, said xenophobia has been on the rise in Russia for some time, and that the closure was not directed at Chinese specifically. “The Cherkizovsky decision has been taken without much thought of the China factor,” he said.

“The closing of Cherkizovsky market in Moscow had everything to do with internal Russian dynamics - both national and local (Moscow). The China connection was discovered only belatedly, and to some surprise by those who had made the decision.”

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Xu Wenhong, a researcher with the Institute of Russian, East European and Central Asian Studies of Chinese Academy of Social Science said: “The immediate cause of the Cherkizovsky shutdown is clearly a result of the interplay of Russia’s internal politics between oligarchs and politicians.”

“It seems that the consideration of Chinese competition weighs not too much on it (the closure).?

But the lack of adaption and integration to Russian society and culture among Chinese businessmen is a cause for concern, Xu said.

“I have been to the market myself and met with many of the Chinese businesspeople there. They are working very hard, but most of them cannot speak Russian. Besides, their law awareness is not quite up to the standard,” said Xu. He suggests the Chinese government do more to help them blend into the local society.

There are similar concerns in Russia.

“I would suggest that the Culture Ministry become involved to raise migrants’ ability to adapt to Russian society,” instead of forcing them out of work by closing the market, Valery Zubov, a Russian State Duma deputy, wrote in an Aug 3 op-ed at the Moscow Times.

But problems of integration overseas are not limited to Russia ?a fact highlighted by a recent street brawl in Algeria between Chinese immigrants and local Algerians.

The Chinese are among the most visible investors in Algeria, including both the state-run enterprises and many more small businesses. Around 25,000 Chinese are currently living and working in Algeria, according to the Algerian media.

A Reuters report noted that 7 out of 10 adults below 30 in Algeria are unemployed, and local residents often resent their lack of work. With so many Chinese working in the country, their presence is obvious ?and easy to resent.

As Iris Chang, author of The Rape of Nanking, wrote of America’s “Chinese Exclusion Act” in the late 19th century in another of her books, The Chinese in America, “卛t virtually takes an economic crisis to blow off the lid of civility and allow deep-seated hatred to degenerate into violence.”

Shi Yinhong, a prominent Chinese international relations scholar with the Beijing-based Renmin University is worried that this particular case might evolve into a broader backlash against Chinese businesses in Africa.

Although there have been sporadic attacks on Chinese businesses abroad since 2000, such incidents seem to be on the rise in Africa. This shows just how unsuccessful Chinese businesses have been at creating a good image in Africa, Shi says.

“Together, China and Africa have made tremendous progress in recent years, especially in the economic realm,” Shi said, “But Chinese businesses have concentrated solely on business interest, to the neglect of local practices and cultures of the host countries.

“In terms of image cultivation, I would say their success, at the best, is quite limited,” he added.

Xu, the Chinese Academy of Social Science researcher, echoed Shi’s concerns. He said overseas Chinese businesses’ successes are partly attributable to their host countries, and they should learn how to better share their successes with local residents.

The Chinese government, too, has not done enough, Shi said. He argues that there needs to be a proper communication mechanism between Chinese migrants and China’s overseas offices to help deal with incidents like the ones described above.

But these efforts might also be hampered by China’s diplomatic traditions, Shi says.

“In some cases, China has been practicing too cautious a diplomatic strategy to take bold and decisive steps,” he notes.

By Qi Xiao