VZCZCXRO2214
RR RUEHCN RUEHGH
DE RUEHGZ #0669 1630727
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 120727Z JUN 07
FM AMCONSUL GUANGZHOU
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 6147
INFO RUEHBJ/AMEMBASSY BEIJING 5464
RUEHMO/AMEMBASSY MOSCOW 0261
RUEHGH/AMCONSUL SHANGHAI 0095
RUEHHK/AMCONSUL HONG KONG 8190
RUEHSH/AMCONSUL SHENYANG 3147
RUEHCN/AMCONSUL CHENGDU 0822

UNCLAS GUANGZHOU 000669 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958:  N/A 
TAGS: OFDP PREL RS CH
SUBJECT: RUSSIA RETURNS TO GUANGZHOU AFTER ABSENCE OF 45 YEARS 
 
(U) THIS DOCUMENT IS SENSITIVE BUT UNCLASSIFIED.  PLEASE PROTECT 
ACCORDINGLY. 
 
¶1.  (SBU) Russia's recently arrived Consul General in Guangzhou, 
Sergei Kotov, the son and grandson of Russian diplomats and 
sinologists, has a big job ahead of him - renovating the old 
Soviet-era consulate building abandoned these past 45 years, signing 
contracts for a diplomatic office with an unhelpful foreign affairs 
office offering "advice" about lease terms, getting enough 
Chinese-language speakers from Moscow to staff a consular district 
which covers the same provinces that the U.S. Congen does, and 
providing services to a Russian population that is growing by leaps 
and bounds in south China.   Taking these concerns from the top: 
 
-- The consulate building.  The building on Shamian Island, nearby 
the U.S. consulate, has been vacant for 45 years, since Russia 
closed all of its consulates in China in 1962 during an era, Kotov 
characterized as "full of misunderstandings and at times the 
potential for violent clashes."  The building itself, over 90 years 
old, was originally purchased from a British trader in the 1920s,, 
and had been used for 43 of the last 45 years as housing for FAO 
staff.  The FAO staff began lobbying 4-5 years ago for decent 
housing and was moved into better quarters two years ago; the 
staff's treatment of the building and the lack of any upkeep brought 
about a deterioration that has left little more than a fagade.  The 
Russians are committed to returning the building to its prior glory, 
at a cost of many millions of dollars, and their equivalent of OBO 
and SOM will be arriving here in the next six months to look at what 
can be done in the way of renovations.  After that he said, it will 
be time to do battle with the Urban Planning Office, which has 
already indicated that it would "welcome" an opportunity to review 
blueprints for the inside as well as for the outside. 
 
-- Temporary diplomatic office.  Kotov seems resigned to being in 
temporary quarters for the next 18-24 months.  The FAO has been less 
than helpful in assisting him with setting up an office, noting that 
Russia should consider signing a three-year lease for space rather 
than the two years that Russia has in mind.  When asked about 
measures that Russia would take to protect the confidentiality of 
information, he laughed and indicated that it was unlikely there 
would be much of a confidential nature.  As for equipment in the 
"classified" area, he said that all materials would be purchased in 
China and then "checked" prior to installation. 
 
-- Chinese-language diplomats.  Not many of them to go around, Kotov 
opined.  His staff, in the first six months, will consist of three 
other officers, two of whom speak "decent' Chinese and the other who 
will largely be an inside person working on consulate and temporary 
office space. 
 
-- Providing services to the Russian population.  There are two 
thousand Russians in Guangzhou and ten thousand in the consular 
district, according to Kotov.  This figure, he told us, is roughly 
half of the total number of Russians in China.  A number of them are 
older, retired pensioners who have sold off their real estate and 
other possessions in Russia and are now living pretty well in the 
south.  According to Kotov, many Russians are investing in 
manufacturing in Guangdong, with the sole purpose of selling here. 
He did acknowledge that the price of admission in terms of commerce 
is usually a willingness to share high technology with Chinese 
enterprises, but pointed out that this was a requirement levied on 
most foreign companies. 
 
¶2.  (SBU) As for south China trade with Russia - which Kotov said 
was far more important than the border trade to the north - Party 
Secretary Zhang Dejiang is planning to lead a delegation to Russia 
 
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in the early fall.  Zhang's trip is a signal to "private" 
entrepreneurs in Zhejiang and Jiangsu, who until now have controlled 
commerce between China and Russia, that Guangdong intends to be a 
"player" in the overall trade relationship. 
 
3.(SBU) Kotov, who served in Beijing from 1994 through 1997 working 
on bilateral relations, has been involved in working on Russia's 
"return" to Guangzhou  (agreed to originally in 1994) for the better 
part of the past two years.  He has traveled here five or six times 
and met primarily with former FAO Deputy Director (and now Director) 
Fu Lang, whom he characterized as well meaning but often unable to 
bring closure on any issue.  He asked about our experience here - 
and about all we could do was commiserate.  Closure on issues, the 
CG noted, would be nice, but perhaps all we could ask for at times 
was to move the FAO's default point from "no" to "maybe." 
 
GOLDBERG