More tolerable environment needed to help China win battle for global talent

Source:Global Times Published: 2013-8-7 19:38:01

Illustration: Liu Rui/GT

Illustration: Liu Rui/GT

Editor's Note:

Talent mobility has become the third largest international flow after the movement of goods and capital. A recent UN report shows there are over 200 million people working abroad, many of whom are highly skilled immigrants. China is now a rising power with an increasing need for global talent with enormous development potential, while the US is the largest destination for talent in the world. But is the US draining China's talent? How can China hold on to its brightest young people? The Center for China and Globalization and the South China Global Talent Institute recently convened a roundtable in Beijing on global talent to discuss this topic.

Tao Jingzhou, managing partner at Dechert LLP responsible for developing the firm's Asian practice

Chinese governments at all levels should make concerted efforts to encourage more overseas students to come back as well as to attract more foreign talent.

Both a tolerant environment and a tolerable environment should be fostered.

A tolerant environment refers to an inclusive and harmonious social context that accommodates talents from different cultures, colors and backgrounds, endowing them with full-fledged freedom.

When it comes to a tolerable environment, the environment in China and especially in its capital Beijing, a gathering place of global talent, has been deteriorating, with worsening air, water, noise pollution and so on.

In fact, the quality of the air has prompted a certain number of foreigners to leave for the sake of their own or their children's health.

Therefore, it's quite significant to improve both the natural and social environment to lure talented foreigners and overseas Chinese back.

Next comes nationality reform. Currently China does not recognize dual nationality. A foreigner living in China cannot enjoy the same rights and interests as a local citizen without Chinese nationality.

Tax also appears heavy in China, and high-income people are sometimes scared of China's high individual income tax. People have a tax rebate in the US, but in China they have zero rebate. Reform in the tax system may inspire students abroad to come back and attract US scholars and experts. 

Generally speaking, in order to attract global talent, China needs to create a more favorable living environment, properly handle the nationality issue, and reform its tax system.

Demetrios G. Papademetriou, president and co-founder of the Migration Policy Institute and President of Migration Policy Institute Europe

In this globalized world, the essence of competitiveness lies in effectively building and utilizing talent, which is human capital.

Talent mobility should be two-way, and China has to make policies to address the phenomenon of brain drain.

As the hunt for talent intensifies, how to attract and more importantly, retain the most talented immigrants has become a hotly debated issue for governments, social sectors and individuals around the world.

On the one hand, governments are not assumed to play a major role in attracting or retaining global talent. Their function mainly lies in providing a favorable environment for talented people.

The Chinese government can draw on the experiences of some developed countries in this regard. For instance, the Singaporean and Spanish governments have both cooperated with enterprises to decide the introduction of talent.

Authorities should attach more importance to the expectations of talented people themselves, which include a clear, fair and transparent immigration system, widened channels for legal immigration with more focus on the approval of permanent residence or citizenship, identification of foreign qualifications, credentials and licenses, and opportunities for family members to receive education or work.

Enterprises, on the other hand, should be in a dominant position to allocate human resources.

Talented people themselves should also practice lifetime learning to adapt themselves to unpredictable changes that frequently happen with the vicissitudes of the international community. They are supposed to give full play to their subjectivity to cater to different needs.

The most talented people, the most desired people, the people who are most successful internationally, and the people that different countries go after have to continue investing in themselves.

Advanced degrees should not become a rigid yardstick for the talented, while entrepreneurship should be given more emphasis. Talented people are expected to be able to apply what they have learned to social practices and development.



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