For subscribers
China wanted global talent. It got nationalist rage instead
A policy meant to attract young foreign Stem graduates has triggered populist anger. Ironically, Beijing has to bear some of the blame.
Sign up now: Get ST's newsletters delivered to your inbox
China has historically positioned itself as a civilisation nation, not a country built around immigration or pluralism
PHOTO: BLOOMBERG
Follow topic:
Beijing’s recent introduction of a “K visa” to woo young foreign Stem graduates and professionals was meant to signal China’s embrace of global innovation and to plug its technological gap. Instead, it has unleashed a virulent domestic backlash that has centred on not just fears of job loss and competition, but also explicit feelings of xenophobia directed at Indian talent.
The online discourse has largely followed two strains: one stems from job market jitters as graduates continue to grapple with an 18 per cent rate of youth unemployment. Foreign Stem (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) graduates will only further congest an already brutal job market, say netizens who want to know: Why should the Chinese government favour foreigners while Chinese graduates struggle to find work?
