China wanted global talent.

A policy meant to attract young foreign Stem graduates has triggered populist anger. Ironically, Beijing has to bear some of the blame.

- Tan Dawn Wei Senior Columnist

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?

The second involves overtly racist voices that have singled out Indian nationals whom they fear will flood the country, bringing their entire families and their “unsavoury” habits with them.

China’s launch of this new visa on Oct 1 has coincided with the Trump administration’s tightening of immigration by charging US$100,000 (S$129,600) for each H-1B visa application. Indians accounted for 71 per cent of these temporary work visas in 2024.

Meanwhile, the K visa is China’s most low-barrier and welcoming policy yet among its other programmes aimed at attracting talent such as the Thousand Talents Scheme, which since 2008 has recruited top scientists, researchers, and entrepreneurs from abroad to work in China; and the Young Thousand Talents Programme for those under 40.

It doesn’t require sponsorship from a Chinese employer or a job offer, and covers a wide range of activities such as education, research, entrepreneurship and cultural exchange.

THE INDIAN BOGEYMAN