ALMATY, JAN. 17 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — A Kazakh dating agency which finds Kazakh wives for wealthy Chinese men said that it had received threats after a series of protests against it.

The row highlights growing nationalism in Kazakhstan as well as concerns over land rights and the rising influence of China. In 2016, protests over land rights spread across the country, worrying president Nazarbayev. Anti-Chinese sentiment has generally increased over the past few years as the politics of national identity have been played with increasing vigour.

And earlier in January it emerged that protesters have targeted the Gimeney marriage agency.

Carrying banners, protesters gathered outside the agency’s office in Astana and called on women who married foreigners to be stripped of their Kazakh citizenship and for the government to protect land from being stolen by Chinese.

Aidyn Egeubayev, one of the protest leaders, said that Chinese men only wanted to marry Kazakh women so that they could later claim land through their children.

“The law says that if a child has at least one parent who is a Kazakh, then they automatically become a citizen,” she said in media interviews.

“We believe that this provision should be removed because Chinese only want our land.”

Now, the Gimeney agency has said that they have received direct threats against it.

A representative of the business, though, defended its business model. “I hope you understand that this is all absurd, we live in 21st century. It is a real problem that there are eight women for one men, it is no joke,” she said, preferring to remain anonymous.

ENDS