Expert calls for international talent policy overhaul

Q: With the rapidly aging population, what preparations should China be making to bring in more skilled workers from neighboring countries to offset the shortage of labor force?

A: China should accommodate more skilled labour like high-end trained nurses, babysitters and household attendants who are now in dire need, especially among big Chinese cities from ASEAN (Association of South East Asian Countries).

Moreover, this inflow of professionals could also motivate domestic vocational education which has been left behind during the current misguided educational system geared towards skilled training.

A sound environment is also important to facilitate small business start-ups who could supply an abundance of high or middle-level serving positions.

Q: What do you think of the current foreign talent reform and what would you expect next?

A: We absolutely have made breakthroughs as we have seen recently. More pilot programs have been undertaken in cities like Beijing and Shanghai which are also hailed by expats working in China.

More bold policies should be adopted and the threshold for international talent should be lowered further, then China could take advantage of the bonanza of global human resources.

Q: What can we learn from developed economies about their foreign talent policies?

A: A specific agency for the service of citizenship and immigration should be set up given the experience of the United States, Singapore and other countries which are top destinations for international talent.

For different targeted groups, we should choose multiple tactics to attract them. We could learn from India's 'Indian card' for overseas Indians and forge our 'Chinese card' for those 70 to 80 million Chinese and their offspring.

In addition, we could copy Singapore to become a nation headhunter to search for human resources across the world.