新冠疫情影响下中缅边境地区缅籍跨境劳工问题研究——以云南省瑞丽市为例

A Study on Cross-border Labor Exchange of Myanmar People in the China-Myanmar Border Region under the Impact of Covid-19:The Case of Ruili City,Yunnan Province,China

缅甸联邦共和国是中国通往东南亚、南亚地区的重要周边国家,中国云南省瑞丽市拥有全国最大的对缅陆地口岸。随着“一带一路”倡议和“孟中印缅经济走廊”建设的开展,中缅边境地区人员的跨境流动进一步加速,既对促进中缅两国之间的国际交流与合作具有重要的积极意义,又对国家安全和边疆民族地区带来一定的负面影响。本文在对云南瑞丽缅籍跨境劳工现状进行调研的基础上,结合新冠肺炎病毒疫情的背景分析了云南瑞丽市缅籍跨境劳工具有年龄低、文化低、薪资低的“三低”特点,并指出了云南瑞丽缅籍跨境劳工存在办证时间长,成本高、偷渡现象重,禁绝难、合作机制缺失,治理难、社会背景存异,管理难、文化水平低,培养难、管理欠规范,纠纷多等六大问题,最后提出了降低办证成本,甘愿合法入境、加强科技管边,严防偷渡行为、加强中缅合作,提升治理水平、强化社会管理,铸牢共同体意识、增加社会支持,提高劳工技能、提薪资增福利,营造内外和谐等六大方面的对策,希望能为我国边疆民族地区的社会稳定、经济发展和铸牢中华民族共同体意识做出一定的贡献。

With the development of the “Belt and Road ” initiative and the construction of the“Bangladesh-China-India-Myanmar Economic Corridor”,the cross-border flow of people in the China-Myanmar border areas appears to have further accelerated. Results show this has greatly promoted international exchange and cooperation between China and Myanmar. However,findings indicate this has also led to some challenges to the social governance in ethnic minority areas along the border. Based on an investigation of the current situation of cross-border Myanmar workers in Ruili,Yunnan province,and combined with the background of COVID-19,this paper proposes that the Myanmar workers in Ruili can be characterized by“three lows: ”low age,low wages and low education. This study also points out six major problems concerning these cross-border Myanmar workers,including 1) that the cross-border workers have to spend much time or high cost to get legal documents;2) the phenomenon of smuggling is widespread and hard to prohibit;3) a long-term absence of a cross-border labor cooperation mechanism between China and Myanmar has substantially worsened the cross-border labor governance in Ruili;4) differences in social background,a large number of stowaways and a general acceptance by Chinese border residents of such stowaways has complicated social governance;5) most cross-border Myanmar workers are poorly educated which makes employee training difficult;6) irregular management of some enterprises has created many conflicts between the companies and these workers.In view of the above problems,this paper specifically puts forward the following suggestions: A)reduce the time and costs of application procedures,encourage the cross-border workers ’ legal entry instead of illegal activities like e. g. crossborder smuggling,and protect the legitimate rights and interests of cross-border workers of Myanmar;B) form a professional team to improve the quality of border management,facilitate frontier administration with technology,and deal strictly with illegal entry;C) strengthen China-Myanmar cooperation,pursue governance excellence,establish relevant mechanisms,build a consultation platform for cross-border labor cooperation,and improve oversight instruments;D) strengthen social management,encourage all people in the frontier regions to participate in border governance by forging a sense of community for the Chinese nation;E) enhance social support for cross-border workers,provide effective language services for them,improve their Chinese proficiency,carry out skills training,and improve their job skill;F) raise wages and benefits for cross-border workers,create an internal and external harmonious environment so as to reduce labor disputes and prevent labor turnover.In conclusion, the problems faced by the cross-border workers of Myanmar in China-Myanmar border territories should be carefully analyzed,allowing for a correct strategy and measures to be implemented promptly,tailored to the actual situation in the China-Myanmar border region,so as to ensure growing social stability and economic development in this area.