China’s Own Immigration Backlash

China may not be ready for an influx of foreigners

I cover Chinese politics and society.

In the race for global talent, it can often appear that China is gaining ground on the United States. While President Trump cuts research funding for universities, China is pouring money into science. The number of high-profile scholars who have left the U.S. for China is growing; Chinese students who once dreamed of an American education are now choosing to stay home.

So when China introduced a new type of visa, called a K visa, for young science and technology workers, just as the Trump administration introduced steep new fees for highly skilled worker visas, many around the world saw it as another way that China may be pulling ahead in an economic rivalry that encompasses trade, tariffs and talent.

Then came the backlash.

The response to the K visa seems to have caught even the Chinese government by surprise. It helps illustrate why predictions that China is on the verge of becoming the next global talent hub may be premature.

A hard country for foreigners

As news of the visa spread across Chinese social media, the dominant reaction was not celebration but horror. High-profile commentators worried that China would become a country of immigrants — not, in their eyes, a good thing. Racist and xenophobic comments spread furiously, especially about Indians, who make up a significant share of the high tech work force in the U.S. Others worried the visa would worsen already record-high youth unemployment.

China has virtually no history of inbound immigration. Foreigners provoke a range of reactions, including curiosity and suspicion influenced by geopolitical tensions between the country and the West.

There are also practical challenges. The ability to speak Mandarin is crucial to navigating daily life. Getting a visa and work permit can be cumbersome. Even routine tasks, like renewing a home Wi-Fi contract or buying concert tickets, can be more difficult for people without Chinese ID cards. Heavy censorship of the internet and a rigidly controlled political environment can also be hard for people from other countries to get used to.

Some headway, some challenges

China has tried to address some of these issues, because the government really does want science and technology talent, especially at high levels. Some universities give prominent foreign-born professors round-the-clock personal assistants when they move to China. But that kind of special treatment isn’t doable on a large scale. And even some Chinese-born, Chinese-speaking scientists who have returned to China after years away say they have trouble readjusting to the political and cultural climate.

That’s not to say that China isn’t making headway on its goal to attract the world’s best and brightest. Plenty of prominent scientists have moved to the country in recent years. Perhaps even more consequential for the future pipeline of talent in the U.S., young Chinese scholars who went to the U.S. to study — and once would have tried to stay — are returning to China in greater numbers.

If the U.S. keeps making itself a less attractive place to study and work, China certainly may look more appealing. But the backlash against the new visa is a reminder that it has its own challenges to address, too.

RELATED: China’s decision to tighten export controls on rare earth metals was not only about strengthening its grip on the world’s supply of the crucial minerals, my colleague David Pierson writes. It was also a high-stakes ploy to jolt Trump into paying attention to what Beijing felt were attempts by his subordinates to sabotage a U.S.-China détente.

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