Chinese Soft Power and Immigration Reform: Can Beijing’s Approach to Pursuing Global Talent and Maintaining Domestic Stability Succeed?

During the past few years, the Chinese government has enacted laws and issued regulations to attract foreign talent, facilitate the return of skilled Chinese nationals and better regulate the entry, residence and employment of foreigners. China is quickly becoming a “new immigration country,” with all the political, economic, and social challenges that entails. This article examines the strategic and policy approaches of China’s recent immigration reform within the context of Chinese soft power. It reviews China’s new immigration laws, policies and practices, and analyzes how immigration reform fits into the new generation of Chinese leaders’ agenda of deepening and broadening China’s post-Mao reform. The article also explicates how key changes in China’s new immigration laws and regulations demonstrate that China is entering the global competition for talent while at the same time that its authoritarian government is attempting to maintain domestic stability by improving immigration-related social management.