According to reports, a few days ago, at the press conference of Shanghai, the relevant person in charge of Pudong New Area said that Pudong New Area will implement the "Global Talent Introduction Partnership Program (GTP)" to further promote the "Pearl Plan". These include supporting foreign talents to serve as legal persons of public institutions and state-owned enterprises, encouraging foreign scientists to undertake national science and technology plans, serving as legal persons of new R&D institutions, etc., and making every effort to build a leading area for international talent development.
As part of the Pudong New Area Global Talent Introduction Partnership Program, "supporting foreign talents to serve as legal persons of public institutions and state-owned enterprises" is an innovation in the talent introduction mechanism and a breakthrough in some long-standing employment regulations. It aims to attract more global talents, better serve the local economic and social development, and is also conducive to building more bridges for enterprise cooperation and management experience exchange between China and foreign countries. At the same time, in the current context, this practice of diluting nationality in the use of talents is also an important symbol of the level of opening up of the region. It should be said that it is consistent with various national opening-up measures in recent years, as well as the expectations of the Chinese people for "opening the door wider and wider", and it is not particularly abrupt. However, this practice has sparked some unexpected discussions and even controversies in the field.
For example, some voices believe that this move is suspected of admiring foreign countries, will this allow some "related households" who do not have "real talent and real learning" but just go abroad to mix their nationality to take advantage of the void? The concerns and worries behind these questions may have a realistic background, but strictly speaking, they all belong to excessive interpretation under information asymmetry, which is a kind of overthinking.
First of all, it should be noted that "supporting foreign talents to serve as legal persons of public institutions and state-owned enterprises" is not the first initiative of Pudong New Area, but more like a follow-up on the basis of existing exploration. Because as early as 2020, the "Overall Plan for the Construction of Hainan Free Port" issued by the Communist Party of China proposed to allow qualified overseas personnel to serve as the legal representatives of statutory institutions, public institutions, and state-owned enterprises in Hainan Free Port. Since then, in 2021, Hainan has given birth to the first legal representative of a subsidiary of a provincial state-owned enterprise served by a foreign talent. In other words, the innovation did not come out of nowhere, but had lessons to learn from.
At the same time, many people may ignore that the policy was formulated in Pudong New Area in accordance with the "Pudong New Area Comprehensive Reform Pilot Implementation Plan (2023-2027)" issued by the General Office of the Communist Party of China in January this year, because it clearly states that "qualified foreign talents are supported to serve as public institutions and legal representatives of state-owned enterprises in the China (Shanghai) Free ** Pilot Zone, Lingang New Area, and Zhangjiang Science City". It can be seen that there must be serious arguments and big practical considerations behind its release, not a "whim" in a certain place. Knowing this background, the discussion may be more rational.
Specifically, the reason why foreigners are allowed to serve as public institutions and state-owned enterprise legal persons is that some people are involved with foreign admiration is mainly because they are blinded by some irrational emotions, and they do not pay enough attention to the talent flow trend, market rules and opening up trend behind it. You must know that the history of China's reform and opening up for more than 40 years is, to a certain extent, a "history of interconnection" that has continuously strengthened exchanges and cooperation with the world. The mutual flow of talents is a very important part of this. For example, multinational corporations have made important contributions to China's economic and social development in terms of capital, technology and management experience. And a large part of this role is based on the foreign talents in these multinational companies. So, allowing qualified outstanding foreign talents to play an important role in public institutions and state-owned enterprises is actually hoping to further replicate these proven advantages and roles, so as to inject more vitality into the development of related fields.
From a broader perspective, the more open employment mechanism is "compatible" with China's pace of opening up to the outside world. At the national level, the "comprehensive abolition of foreign investment access restrictions in the manufacturing sector" has been formalized. The level of openness in the industry and market has been continuously improved, and the employment mechanism has become more open, which is not only a matter of course, but also an internal requirement that strongly supports the better development of related fields in greater openness. In fact, the report of the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China proposed to steadily expand the opening up of rules, regulations, management, standards and other institutions. This represents a higher level of openness, which inevitably includes the openness of talent management rules to keep pace with the times.
It is indeed a necessary reminder for foreign talents to ensure that they are employed in public institutions and state-owned enterprises to ensure good quality and prevent "fishing in troubled waters". For example, what are the conditions for foreign talents to serve as legal persons, which fields can be liberalized, and which fields may still need to be suspended, all of which need to be framed by more specific rules. The ideal situation is to ensure that outstanding foreign talents can "make the best use of talents", and at the same time put the quality of talents in the first place in selection, and ensure fair competition to prevent deviation. In addition, it should be pointed out that allowing and supporting foreign talents to serve as legal persons in certain fields does not mean that all legal persons in relevant industries should be "foreigned". It is only to further break down some employment restrictions in related fields, and to open an opening for situations that may be needed, and should not unilaterally magnify their adverse effects.
In general, supporting foreign talents to serve as public institutions and state-owned enterprise legal persons on a pilot basis in some places is an option that is in line with the current level of opening-up and the needs of future opening-up, and it is also one of the explorations to promote institutional opening-up in more dimensions. Society can rationally discuss and monitor how to do better and be happy to see it, but it does not have to add too much "emotional" burden to it.
The original title was "Supporting Foreign Talents to Serve as Public Institutions and State-owned Enterprise Legal Persons, Without Over-Interpretation" by Zhu Changjun **Red Star News).