China Plans First Immigration Agency to Lure Overseas Talent
- First-of-its-kind agency could be set up before year’s end
- Leaders seeking to lure workers with more technical expertise
This picture taken on July 11, 2016 shows a man cycling past a billboard showing an aerial view of Shanghai. China's growth slipped to a new seven-year low of 6.6 percent in the second quarter, according to a survey of economists by AFP, despite government efforts to spur activity in the world's second-largest economy. / AFP / JOHANNES EISELE / TO GO WITH China-economy-growth-GDP,POLL by Bill Savadove (Photo credit should read JOHANNES EISELE/AFP/Getty Images)
Photographer: Johannes Eisele/AFP via Getty ImagesChina is setting up its first immigration office, according to people with knowledge of the plans, as President Xi Jinping seeks overseas talent to help drive the transition of an economy led by consumer spending and innovation.
Public Security Minister Guo Shengkun, who doubles as a state councilor, disclosed the move earlier this year at an internal meeting about a wider overhaul of domestic security services, said the people, who asked not be identified because the plans are not public. The office would be created by merging and expanding the ministry’s border control and exit-entry administration bureaus and could be set up before year-end, they said.