【The Straits Times】China a strong magnet for global talent: Forbes report
October 24 , 2017
BEIJING • China is becoming attentive to global talent on an unprecedented level due to the nation’s economic size and vibrancy, according to a report by US business magazine Forbes.
The 2018 Global Talent Mobility and Wealth Management report, released last Saturday, predicts that the country will be a major “exchange hub” for global talent by 2022.
“By that time, China will be not only the largest export country of students studying abroad, but also a major destination for global talent,” said Mr Russell Flannery, Shanghai bureau chief of Forbes China.
No country in history has met both criteria, he said, adding that although India used to have the largest number of students overseas, it has not been attractive enough to global talent, such as people from the United States.
“China’s role as a hub in global talent mobility will further consolidate and it will help the country to integrate its educational resources globally. Meanwhile, it will provide more competitive job opportunities for overseas talent,” Mr Flannery said.
It is the third year in a row that the report has been released by Forbes and Wailian Overseas Consulting Group, a Shanghai-based investment and immigration company.
Mr Kenneth Jarrett, president of the American Chamber of Commerce in Shanghai, said he has seen a growing number of US workers coming to China over the past few years, as well as more Chinese students returning home to set up their own businesses.
More than 900,000 foreigners from 73 countries were employed in China last year, the government has said, compared with fewer than 10,000 in the 1980s.
The government has also attached greater importance to global talent, especially since the ruling Communist Party introduced a programme to recruit “global experts” in 2008.
By the end of last year, China had attracted more than 6,000 high-level foreign professionals under the programme.
Meanwhile, more Chinese who studied or worked overseas are returning to the country.
Experts in the science and technology sector have made up the majority of returned talent, prompted by the government’s policies and rising domestic companies, according to the Forbes report.
“While other countries are tightening their immigration policies, China should seize the opportunity to come up with more open and friendly talent policies to attract world-class talent, said Dr Wang Huiyao, the founder of the Centre for China and Globalisation think-tank（CCG）.
