Ukrainian government sells land to China

2024 Author: Seth Attwood | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 15:55

China signed a contract with Ukraine for the lease of three million hectares (that is, 30 thousand square kilometers, which is approximately equal to the area of Belgium or Armenia) of agricultural land for $ 3 billion. Moreover, from the Chinese side, the deal is not represented by an agricultural holding, but by a special structure of the Chinese army …

The contract is valid for 99 years with the right for either party to terminate it, but not earlier than the expiration of the first 50 years. For the extension of the contract in 50 years, Ukraine will receive another $ 3 billion.

This information, however, was quickly refuted by the Ukrainian side, the agricultural holding KSG Agro. They say we are not talking about the sale of land (this, however, no one said) and not about rent, but only about "joint activities." However, this formulation is rather vague. On the other hand, the Minister of Agriculture of Ukraine Mykola Prysyazhnyuk said a very interesting phrase on this matter: “We are interested in any investment from any country”. Another fact is that in 2012 Kiev and Beijing created a Sino-Ukrainian investment fund, which intends to accumulate $ 6 billion for investments in Ukrainian agriculture. Moreover, this year alone it was supposed to invest $ 600 million. Thus, there is every reason to discuss the deal seriously. It’s as if it’s already really concluded. Moreover, even if this has not yet formally happened, it is very likely that it will happen, as will be shown below.

Three million hectares is 5% of the total area of Ukraine, or 9% of its arable land. There is unofficial information that China is not going to stop there.

and plans to lease another 9 to 17 million hectares of land. The leased territories will receive the status of extraterritoriality, that is, they will be under the jurisdiction of the PRC, not Ukraine. This means that in fact 5% of the territory of Ukraine will not belong to it. Now we are talking about the Dnepropetrovsk region, where the Chinese plan to engage in agriculture and raise pigs. But in the future, this production is planned to be extended to other regions of the country, first of all - Kherson and Crimea.

Earlier, China has already signed contracts for the lease of agricultural land in Brazil, Argentina and several African countries. But nowhere was it about extraterritoriality, and the total area of all leased land in Africa and Latin America was 2 million hectares, that is, less than in Ukraine alone.

Land is Ukrainian pride and its most important resource. Thanks to its fertile soils, Ukraine ranks sixth in the world in the production of food grains (Russia is in third place in the world, behind the United States and Canada). Ukrainian politicians had great ambitions when they talked about the food crisis in the world, about how Ukraine will save humanity from hunger, of course, making good money on it.

Beijing chooses Kiev between Moscow and Brussels. Ukraine needs money, and China is the best ally in this respect, it is indifferent to the socio-economic situation in the country, and even more so to its political system.

Ukraine and China have been cooperating for a long time and in many areas. At the same time, the military sphere stands out.

Kiev for Beijing is in many respects a more beneficial partner in the field of military-technical cooperation than Moscow. Russia sees China as at least a competitor in the arms market. As a maximum, many Russians (including government officials) understand how strong a threat this country poses. Therefore, the sale of the latest weapons and even more technology to China from Russia is seriously limited. In principle, Ukraine has no restrictions, while weapons and technologies are much cheaper there than in Russia. The only negative for China is the lack of access to the latest Russian technologies (Ukraine itself is now obviously not capable of creating their analogues).

China purchased systems produced only in Ukraine: for example, in 2002, the Kolchuga passive radio intelligence station was purchased. Until now, the transaction on the sale from Ukraine to China of the world's largest air cushion ships (KVP) pr. 12322 "Zubr" is underway. These ships are produced both in Russia and in Ukraine. At first, China negotiated them with Russia, but she set a condition for the purchase of at least 10-15 KVP. Ukraine agreed to sell only four ships and transfer all technical documentation for them to China, and without the consent of the Russian side.

The role of Ukraine in the creation of the Chinese aircraft carrier fleet is exceptionally great. Its first ship was the Liaoning aircraft carrier, a former aircraft-carrying cruiser Varyag. The J-15 carrier-based fighter was created for it on the basis of the T-10K aircraft. Both the Varyag and the T-10K were purchased by China in Ukraine (the Varyag was received, in fact, for nothing, for $ 28 million at standard prices of several billion dollars). Completion and re-equipment of "Liaoning" took place with the participation of Ukrainian engineers. Also, with the help of Ukraine, a Chinese training center for carrier-based aviation was created on the island of Huludao, very reminiscent of a similar NITKA complex in the Crimea (it was used to train Russian naval pilots from the aircraft-carrying cruiser Admiral Kuznetsov, of the same type as the Varyag, while this year Russia is from him did not refuse, having built her own in Taganrog).

Cruise missiles, created on the basis of the Kh-55 purchased in Ukraine, became the progenitors of a whole family of long-range sea, air and land-based missiles. The latest Chinese destroyers are powered by Ukrainian gas turbine engines. The technology for the production of ion-plasma engines for spacecraft and the technology for servicing the AL-31F engines for the Su-27 and Su-30 fighters were sold to China.

With all the success of this cooperation, it is gradually drying up precisely because China has exhausted the Soviet technologies that Ukraine had to the bottom, and the country is no longer able to create new ones.

Since Kiev has nothing to sell, and more and more money is needed, such an outstanding land deal has arisen. The deal becomes doubly and doubly outstanding if you look at which organization leases land from the Chinese side (and in this case, the Ukrainian side does not deny who is its Chinese counterparty).

In Africa and Latin America, land is rented by Chinese agricultural holdings, whose only occupation is agriculture. But the owner of 5% of the territory of Ukraine will be the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps (SPSK) - a special structure of the PLA (People's Liberation Army of China), that is, the Chinese armed forces. There are no analogues of the SPSK, which is a kind of synthesis of the construction battalion and the internal troops, in today's world. In history, it seems that the military settlements of Arakcheev in Russia can be considered a kind of its analogue.

In the 1950s, in China, such corps were created in all outlying national regions that were unreliable in terms of loyalty to Beijing. These corps, firstly, supplemented the army when performing occupation functions in these regions, and secondly, they were engaged in construction and agriculture in the interests of the central government. The corps built both military and civilian facilities, providing food for themselves, regular PLA units and the population of these regions.

Gradually, all these structures were disbanded, now only Xinjiang has survived. All body functions remain the same. It complements the PLA Lanzhou Military District and the People's Armed Police (Chinese Interior Troops) in occupying the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region (XUAR) and is involved in construction and agriculture. The SPSK fighters undergo only infantry training, but they don't need any more, because their mission is to suppress internal actions, and not a war with an external enemy. It is quite indicative that in the SPSK, the Han (the main ethnic group of China, that is, the "proper Chinese") make up 88%, and the Uighurs - less than 7%, while in the XUAR population there are approximately 45% of Han people and 48% of the Uighurs. The total number of SPSK is 2.2 million people, that is, about the same as in the regular PLA. The SPSC provides more than 10% of the XUAR's GDP, with three quarters of its production coming from agriculture.

As you know, the most acute problems of the modern PRC are the lack of agricultural land, unemployment and “shortage of brides,” that is, a significant excess of the male population over the female in the younger age groups. Renting 5% of Ukraine will help solve these problems. Naturally, only the Chinese (young men, SPSK fighters) will work on the leased land, their number will certainly be in the hundreds of thousands (perhaps, over time, it will reach millions). At a minimum, they will feed themselves and contribute to a decrease in the number of unemployed in China (the SPSC will recruit new people to replace them).

At the same time, there are serious doubts that agricultural products will go from Ukraine to China: this is far away, so the profit is doubtful. It is much more likely that it will be implemented in Ukraine itself and, possibly, in neighboring countries. In Ukraine itself, there will definitely not be any problems with sales, especially since prices for Chinese products will obviously be very low. This can weaken the internal social tension in Ukraine, although it will lead to the rapid ruin of their own agriculture and its complete replacement with Chinese. In this regard, the rental space may well be significantly expanded (as mentioned at the beginning of the article, the Chinese are already thinking about it now).

In addition, various light industry enterprises may gradually appear on these areas, which will provide the Ukrainian population with very cheap consumer goods (of course, Chinese from the same SPSK will also work at these enterprises). Since the Ukrainian lands will actually belong to the PLA, military facilities will also appear on them. Of course, these will not be tank divisions or air regiments, but airfields capable of receiving aircraft of all types. Electronic intelligence centers will also appear here, listening to the whole of Europe and Russia, at least to the Urals.

Non-drinking, disciplined, hardworking Chinese guys will quickly attract the attention of Ukrainian girls. This will contribute to a partial solution to the problem of the shortage of brides for the Chinese and will very quickly begin to influence the demographic situation in Ukraine itself. Moreover, the Chinese system "one family - one child" will definitely not apply to Ukrainian-Chinese families.

If there is dissatisfaction with what is happening in Ukraine, then the SPSK fighters will be able to remember their infantry training. But this, admittedly, is extremely unlikely. Almost certainly everything will go peacefully, given the complete apathy and demoralization of the Ukrainian population, which are only exacerbated by the complete disappointment in all political forces. This will help the Party of Regions simply buy the electorate with Chinese money before each regular election. Moreover, each time this purchase will cost less and less.

By 2063 (not to mention 2112), no one will even think about canceling the lease. Ukraine will become a completely different country, although under the same zhovto-blockit ensign (the Chinese do not care about this kind of toys, they need real control, not a formal change of the flag).

Of course, Russia and Europe will be extremely unhappy with what is happening, but this will be their problem. It is Beijing that will become the guarantor of the preservation of the regime in Kiev - first the current president, and then his successors. Accordingly, the opinion of Moscow and Brussels will lose its significance for Kiev. And that is why the probability of the transaction under discussion is so high.

Confirmation that the current president of Ukraine fears Russia much more than Europe is the fact that China is being given land to the east of the Dnieper. That is, the "Chinese barrier" is being placed against Russia.