Why do foreign refugees come to China?

Relevant provisions on refugees in international law include the Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees and the Protocol Relating to the Status of Refugees. China signed these two documents in 1982. Out of its international obligations, China has been accepting refugees. The 2015 China International Migration Report recently released by the China and Globalization Think Tank (CCG) pointed out that China is becoming a refugee-receiving country.

So European refugees can choose to take refuge in China. However, when refugees generally choose a country of refuge, in addition to considering the country's policies, they also need to consider distance, etc. Therefore, European countries currently bear most of the refugee reception responsibilities. Refugees in our country mainly come from surrounding Southeast Asian countries. A large part of them are North Vietnamese refugees who fled to China during the Sino-Vietnamese War in the late 1970s. There are approximately more than 200,000 of them, most of whom are of Chinese descent. Many of them have voluntarily returned to their home countries, and those who stayed have been well integrated into the local society.

And refugees need screening interviews because not all those who apply for asylum are refugees. Some asylum seekers come to our country for economic purposes. The "Expat Survey Report 2014" released by the British HSBC Group in October 2014 showed that in the ranking of "the most attractive countries or regions for foreigners to live", China ranked third overall, second only to Switzerland and Singapore. In addition, some people apply for refugee status to do business, go to school or travel. For example, some businessmen apply for refugee status because their business visas have expired and cannot be extended. In order to avoid being punished when leaving the country, they apply for refugee status. These people will use the Internet to search for news events that happened in a certain country at a certain time, and then say that they were attacked during the incident to defraud refugee status.

“Screening interviews are generally the responsibility of the host country’s government. However, the Chinese government has not taken over this work, so we (UNHCR Representative Office in China) do it.” The practice of screening interviews is one-on-one , hosted by UNHCR staff. The interview content mainly focused on "Why did you leave your country". The Q&A sessions are very specific and generally last more than two hours. UNHCR staff will judge the credibility of the applicant's answers based on whether various scenarios and details are consistent with local conditions, and determine whether they really meet the refugee standards.

As for how to identify it, our country’s current laws do not clearly stipulate it, and it is based on international standards. This definition is: Remaining outside one's own country due to a demonstrable fear of persecution because of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group, or political opinion , who is unable or unwilling to submit to the protection of that country because of such fear, or a stateless person, or a person whose country has perished, and who, because of the above, is outside the country of his former habitual residence and who is now unable, or because of the above People who are too afraid to return to the country.

International conventions do not stipulate that people who have fled their homes due to war need to be recognized as "refugees." However, Song Jing from the United Nations Refugee Agency said that compared with this identification standard, the current common practice in the international community has been to identify people who have fled their country during war as "refugees." "The United Nations Refugee Agency naturally implements the most widely Standard.”

But it is difficult for China to become a second home for refugees

Refugees can apply for financial assistance from the United Nations Refugee Agency, which will evaluate the refugee’s financial situation. UNHCR will provide financial assistance to refugees if they meet the requirements. Currently, the unified standard in mainland China is 1,200 yuan per person per month.

There are usually three permanent solutions for refugees - voluntary repatriation: generally when the situation in the place of origin improves, you can apply for help from the UNHCR to return home; local integration: that is, settling in the place where you applied for refugee status , become a citizen of that country; third country resettlement: you can apply to a country that is willing to accept refugees and give them nationality, such as the United States, Canada, France, Sweden, etc.

China is only a temporary refuge for refugees, not a long-term destination. Although China has been fulfilling its international obligations and accepting refugees. However, a long-term mechanism to accommodate refugees has not been established, so for the refugees staying in our country, many needs cannot be met, such as employment, education, etc. Refugees do not have the right to work in China because their status is not covered by the Regulations on the Administration of Foreigners’ Employment in China.

The only legal provisions on refugees that can be found in our country are Article 32, Paragraph 2 of the 1982 Constitution: “The People’s Republic of China may grant the right to asylum to foreigners who request asylum for political reasons. "There is also the provision in Article 46 of the Exit and Entry Administration Law that took effect in July 2013: Asylum applicants can stay in China with temporary identity documents; recognized refugees can stay in China with refugee identity documents.

Although China continues to fulfill its obligation to accept refugees, relevant institutions, policies, and regulations still have a lot of room for growth. For example, why does a big country not have its own agency responsible for refugee screening and resettlement? Refugees who come to China almost always have legal protection and policy support. Refugee children studying in China cannot take the college entrance examination because they do not have citizenship.