China has paid great attention to the international exchange of personnel over the past 25 years during the reform and opening up process.

Talent introduction has played an important role in adjusting China's economic structure, renovating and upgrading traditional industries and developing high and new-tech industries.

But the introduction of talent from abroad has become particularly urgent since the government believes that competition among different countries in the 21st century will focus on this precious resource.

The State Administration of Foreign Experts Affairs (SAFEA) is the highest ranking among the different institutes for talent introduction and management.

Su Guangming of the department of regulations and liaison of SAFEA, said many central government departments need a large number of professional foreign experts in banking and China Securities Regulatory Commission, in addition to the departments of provincial governments.

Su, who has just finished a research visit in northeast China, said the preparation work for the state project to further develop northeast China is continuing and that "talent is the most important aspect for its success."

According to Chinese experts on talent introduction, one expert from a foreign country is equivalent to sending 20 Chinese people to study abroad.

Foreign experts working in China are usually categorized into economic and technological experts and cultural and educational experts. The former refers to industry, commerce, finance and foreign-invested ventures.

Cultural and educational experts typically work in institutions of higher learning, media and publishing, scientific research and art institutes.

According to the State Statistics Bureau, there were some 440,000 foreign experts working in China in 2001. Among them 250,000 were from abroad and 190,000 persons were from HK SAR, Macao SAR and Taiwan. Long-term experts occupied 42 percent of the total, while short-term ones made up the remaining 58 percent.

To date SAFEA has established cooperative relations with over 300 government organizations, international institutions, prestigious universities and non-governmental organizations in more than 60 countries and regions.

While promoting governmental exchanges and cooperation through symposia, trade fairs and sister city relations, SAFEA is also resorting to and expanding non-governmental channels.

In 2002 SAFEA received delegations, experts and scholars from the United States, Finland, Belgium, Singapore, Australia and dozens of other countries and regions.

SAFEA also asked help of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Ministry of Science and Technology to introduce foreign experts.

SAFEA's hard effort, however, cannot settle the problem of the shortage of foreign talent.

Leaders of China Radio International and China Daily, two Chinese media for foreign consumers, often complain it is difficult to find proof-reading coordinators or experts with media backgrounds.

Almost all the foreign experts working in the two media are directly recommended by SAFEA.

Some regulations and policies concerned with foreign talent introduction still limit the exchanges of international personnel.

"There is a very strict practice for hiring a foreign expert to work in government and party departments," Su Guangming said. "The highest rank of foreign expert working in the Chinese government is a senior consultant so far."

Concerns about state safety and secrecy are the main reasons those departments refuse foreign experts, according to Su.

Yao Yuqun, famous professor of labor resource in People's University, said there is no cause for worry in most cases regarding foreign talent.

Another reason to discourage foreign talent to come to China is the impact it has on competition in the labor market.

Laid-off workers and large numbers of college graduates have become a headache for the Chinese government when it comes to employment. The large-scale introduction of foreign talent could make the problem worse, many think.

Qin Dahe, director of the China Meteorological Bureau, said he simply considered whether a candidate was qualified for a job and paid no heed to which country they are from.

Qin's bureau hired a Swedish scientist to act as a high-ranking officer last year. That made quite an impact locally.

On the other hand, foreign talent working in China can often create more job opportunities and can to some extent help relieve the employment market, according to Yao Yuqun.

Yao believes that China's labor market will open wider in the near future.

This month SAFEA will hold a conference on the international exchange of personnel and some new regulations will be formulated to help introduce foreign talent to China.

But it seems there will be no changes in government and party departments in the hiring of foreign personnel, according to sources from SAFEA.

(Beijing Weekend December 5, 2003)