Kina lider av brain drain – men varför ratas USA?

Kina lider av brain drain – men varför ratas USA?

”Jag kommer inte återvända till Kina förrän det blir demokratiskt”, säger 36-årige Chen Liangshi som numera jobbar för Meta i London. Han är en av 14 högutbildade kineser som The New York Times intervjuat om deras beslut att – trots välbetalda jobb – lämna sitt hemland. Ett anmärkningsvärt mönster i Kinas brain drain är att allt färre väljer att söka sig till USA. Både praktiska anledningar – som komplicerade visaprocesser – och politiska – som relationen mellan Kina och USA – pekas ut som anledningar. China’s brightest minds, including tech professionals, are emigrating, but many are not heading to America. We spoke to them to ask why. By Li Yuan 3 October, 2023 They went to the best universities in China and in the West. They lived middle-class lives in Beijing, Shanghai and Shenzhen and worked for technology companies at the center of China’s tech rivalry with the United States. Now they are living and working in North America, Europe, Japan, Australia — and just about any developed country. Chinese — from young people to entrepreneurs — are voting with their feet to escape political oppression, bleak economic prospects and often grueling work cultures. Increasingly, the exodus includes tech professionals and other well-educated middle-class Chinese. “I left China because I didn’t like the social and political environment,” said Chen Liangshi, 36, who worked on artificial intelligence projects at Baidu and Alibaba, two of China’s biggest tech companies, before leaving the country in early 2020. He made the decision after China abolished the term limit for the presidency in 2018, a move that allowed its top leader, Xi Jinping, to stay in power indefinitely. “I will not return to China until it becomes democratic,” he said, “and the people can live without fear.” He now works for Meta in London. I interviewed 14 Chinese professionals, including Chen, and exchanged messages with dozens more, about why they decided to uproot their lives and how they started over in foreign countries. Most of them worked in China’s tech industry, which was surprising because the pay is high. But I was most surprised to find that most of them had moved to countries other than the United States. China is facing a brain drain, and the United States isn’t taking advantage of it. In the 1980s and 1990s, when China was poor, its best and brightest sought to study and work — and stay — in the West. Emigration, on net, peaked in 1992 with more than 870,000 people leaving the country, according to the United Nations. That number fell to a low of roughly 125,000 in 2012, as China emerged from poverty to become a tech power and the world’s second-biggest economy. The Chinese government worked hard to keep them, rolling out incentives to lure back scientists and other skilled people. In 2016, more than 80% of Chinese who studied abroad returned home, according to the Ministry of Education, up from about one-quarter two decades earlier. The trend has reversed. In 2022, despite passport and travel restrictions, more than 310,000 Chinese, on net, emigrated, according to the U.N. data. With three months to go this year, the number has reached the same level as the whole of 2022. Quite a few people I interviewed said, like Chen, that they had started thinking of leaving the country after China amended its constitution to allow Xi to effectively rule for life. The “zero-COVID” campaign, with nearly three years of constant lockdowns, mass testing and quarantines, was the last straw for many of them. Most people I interviewed asked that I use only their family names for fear of government retaliation. One of them, Fu, worked as an engineer at a state-owned defense tech enterprise in southwestern China when he decided to leave. He found that after the constitutional amendment, he and his colleagues spent more time participating in political study sessions than working, forcing everyone to work overtime. As Xi increasingly ruled by fear and propaganda, the social and political atmosphere grew tense and suffocating. Fu said he had become estranged from his parents after arguing about the necessity of the strict pandemic restrictions, which he objected to. He barely spoke with anyone and lived in a political closet. Late last year, he quit and applied for a work visa in Canada. Now, he and his wife are on their way to Calgary, Alberta. Most of the emigrants I spoke to, explaining why they did not pick the United States, cited America’s complicated and unpredictable process for applying for visas and permanent resident status. The number of student visas granted by the United States to Chinese nationals, long a starting point for promising future emigrants, began to fall in 2016, as relations between the countries deteriorated. In the first six months of 2023, Britain granted more than 100,000 study visas to Chinese nationals, while the United States granted roughly 65,000 F1 student visas. Fu said he hadn’t considered the United States because he studied at a university that is on Washington’s sanction list and he worked at a defense company — both could make it tough for him to pass the U.S. government’s security screening procedure. But he said he would eventually like to work in the country, which he idolizes. Some tech professionals chose Canada and European countries over the United States because of their better social benefits, work-life balance and gun control laws. When Zhang decided to emigrate in July 2022, she made a list: Canada, New Zealand, Germany and Nordic countries. The United States didn’t make it because she knew it would be extremely difficult for her to get a work visa. Zhang, 27, a computer programmer, felt the hustle culture of Silicon Valley was too similar to China’s grueling work environment. After putting in long hours at a top tech company in Shenzhen for five years, she was done with that. She also sought a country where women were treated more equally. This year, she moved to Norway. After paying taxes for three years and passing the language exam, she will get permanent residency. Zhang said she didn’t mind that she was making about $20,000 less than in Shenzhen, and paying higher taxes and living expenses. She can finish her day at 4 p.m. and enjoy life outside work. She doesn’t worry that she will be considered too old for employment when she turns 35, a form of discrimination that many Chinese experience. She doesn’t live in constant fear that the government will roll out a policy like “zero-COVID” that will turn her life on its head. Most of the tech professionals I talked to took a pay cut when they emigrated. “I feel like I’m paying for liberty,” said Zhou, a U.S.-educated software engineer who quit his job at an autonomous-driving startup in Beijing. He now works at an automobile company in Western Europe. “It’s worth it,” he said. Another emigrant, Zhao, described his long and anxious journey to the United States. He grew up in a poor village in China’s eastern Shandong province and came to the United States for a doctoral degree in engineering five years ago. At the beginning, he intended to return after graduation later this year — China was on the rise, he believed, unlike America. But China’s response to the pandemic caused Zhao to start questioning his beliefs. “I can’t go back to a country where everything was built on lies,” he said. But it won’t be easy to stay in the United States. Zhao has a job offer and will get temporary employment status as a graduate in a STEM, or science or engineering, field. That will last three years. He will participate in a lottery for an H-1B work visa. He did the math: There’s a 40% chance he won’t win the lottery by the end of the three years. He might have to go back to school to remain in the United States, or ask his company to transfer him to a foreign post. “Sometimes when I think about this at night, I feel that life is full of misery and uncertainty,” Zhao said. “Then I can’t sleep.” © 2023 The New York Times Company. Read the original article at The New York Times.

Minst 35 döda i Kina – bil körde in i folkmassa

Minst 35 döda i Kina – bil körde in i folkmassa

Händelsen inträffade vid en sportarena vid åttatiden på måndagskvällen. Enligt flera medier ska bilen ha kört in i en folkmassa som utförde någon form av träningsaktivitet på arenan. – Den körde runt och runt och människor skadades på alla delar av löpbanan – öst, syd, väst och nord, säger ett annat vittne till det kinesiska nyhetsmagasinet Caixin. Bilder från platsen visade flera personer liggandes livlösa på marken efter att bilen kört runt. Många av de som skadats eller dödats är äldre, men det finns även barn bland offren. ”Extremt illvillig natur” Föraren, en man i 62-årsåldern, greps när han försökte fly platsen. Motivet bakom händelsen är ännu inte känt, men enligt ett utlåtande från den kinesiska polisen ska mannen ha varit missnöjd med en skilsmässouppgörelse. ”Poliser fann honom när han skadade sig själv med en kniv i bilen. De stoppade honom och körde honom till sjukhus för vård. På grund av allvarliga skador i nacken är han medvetslös och har ännu inte kunnat höras ”, skriver polisen i ett utlåtande. Den kinesiske presidenten Xi Jinping manar till största möjliga ansträngningar för att vårda de skadade. Han har också krävt att gärningsmannen ska straffas hårt, och beskriver brottet som en ”extremt illvillig natur”, enligt det statliga tv-bolaget CCTV. Censureras På tisdagen har sökningar i sociala medier om händelsen censurerats kraftigt och kinesiska mediers artiklar om händelser som publicerats på måndagskvällen har tagits bort. Hundratals invånare samlas regelbundet vid sportarenan i Zhuhai för att friidrotta, spela fotboll och umgås. Arenan har meddelat att den kommer att hålla stängt tills vidare.

Därför reste Orban till Georgien – trots anklagelser om valfusk

Därför reste Orban till Georgien – trots anklagelser om valfusk

I lördags gick Georgien till val i vad som benämnts som ett ödesval. Initialt såg det positivt ut för oppositionen, men när 99 procent av rösterna var räknade hade regeringspartiet Georgisk dröm fått över 50 procent av rösterna. En rysk påverkansoperation, menade den georgiska oppositionella presidenten Salome Zourabichvili som manade till massiva protester i Tbilisi. Även från svenskt håll kritiserades valet. – Vi har inte fått de slutliga rapporterna men allting talar för att det har skett många oegentligheter, att det är ett val som inte är pålitligt, att det har skett rent fusk på olika sätt, säger statsminister Ulf Kristersson till TT. Experten förutsåg Orbáns drag Efter valet fyllde demonstranter gatorna i Tbilisi. Oppositionella har vädjat om stöd från det internationella samfundet och EU och demonstranter fyllde gatorna i Tbilisi. Samtidigt anlände Viktor Orbán, premiärministern i Ungern som innehar ordförandeskapet i EU, till huvudstaden. Orbán gratulerade regeringen och beskrev valet som fritt och demokratiskt. Flera organisationer, bland annat OSSE, rapporterar att det förekommit valfusk. En som förutsåg Orbáns agerande redan i våras, i samband med att den ”utländska agent-lagen” klubbades igenom, är Daniel Hegedüs, regionalchef för Centraleuropa på tankesmedjan German Marshall Fund. I en artikel i EUobserver skrev han redan i maj om hur Ungern kunde komma att utnyttja det roterande ordförandeskapet för att legitimera valet för den georgiska regeringen – trots ouppklarade frågor om valfusk. – De skapar nära band till de som utmanar EU och väst. Länder som Ryssland och Kina, men även till mindre länder som Azerbaijan och i detta fallet Georgien, säger Daniel Hegedüs till TV4 Nyheterna. Kan komma att stoppa sanktioner De ungerska relationerna till de länder som vågar utmana EU kan sedan användas som en påtryckningsmetod mot EU, menar Daniel Hegedüs. Liknande metoder har använts i förhållande till Ukraina. – Jag tror vi kan förvänta oss att de kommer gå så långt att EU troligtvis inte kommer kunna införa sanktioner mot företrädare för Georgisk dröm, likt USA tidigare infört. Man kan förvänta sig att Ungern kommer motsätta sig sådana försök, säger Hegedüs. Ungern, som nu innehar ordförandeskapet, försöker främst utnyttja sin roll på två sätt, enligt Hegedüs. I början av ordförandeskapet försökte de öka sitt strategiska manöverutrymme och stärka sin utrikespolitiska självständighet. Då besökte Orbán bland annat Putin i Moskva och Xi Jinping i Peking. – Det andra är att störa EU:s utrikes- och institutionella politik. Det främjar den ungerska regimen men även ryska intressen, det är tydligt även i det georgiska valet, säger Hegedüs. Värderingsbaserad allians De två regeringspartierna Georgisk dröm och ungerska Fidesz har de senaste åren kommit allt närmare varandra. Georgiens premiärminister, Irakli Kobakhidze, beskrev besöket som ett ”bevis på den nära vänskapen mellan våra länder, byggd på delade värderingar”. – En allians har vuxit fram, främst baserad på gemensamma illiberala värderingar och intressen kopplade till inhemsk auktoritär utveckling säger Hegedüs. När EU valde att stoppa den georgiska processen för att ansluta sig till unionen i samband med att den ”utländska agent-lagen” klubbades igenom, fortsatte Ungern att stötta Georgien och dess beslut. – Det är uppenbart att de har en mycket nära relation, en som gör att premiärminister Orbán inte tvekar att gå i konflikt med EU, säger Hegedüs.

Elon Musk och Putin i hemliga samtal – ska ha pågått i flera år

Elon Musk och Putin i hemliga samtal – ska ha pågått i flera år

Samtalen mellan Musk och Putin, som varit igång sedan slutet av 2022, ska ha handlat om både personliga ämnen, affärer och geopolitiska spänningar, skriver The Wall Street Journal. Att miljardären och den ryska presidenten har samtalat flera gånger är något som flera före detta och nuvarande amerikanska, ryska och europeiska tjänstemän uppger för tidningen. Elon Musk är grundare av SpaceX som driver tjänsten Starlink. Företaget är Nasas och Pentagons primära raketuppskjutare. Det gör att Musk har viss tillgång till hemligstämplad information, och har starka band till amerikanska militären. Enligt två av källorna ska Putin ha bett Musk att inte aktivera sin Starlink-satellitinternettjänst över Taiwan, vilket var en tjänst till Kinas ledare Xi Jinping. Kreml: Har bara hänt en gång Elon Musk har inte kommenterat uppgifterna. Dmitry Peskov, talesperson för Kreml, bekräftar inte att det har skett några regelbundna samtal med Musk, men säger att ett samtal ägt rum en gång och då över telefon. Då ska Musk och Putin ha diskuterat ”rymden och nuvarande och framtida teknik”. Elon Musk sa i oktober 2022 att han haft ett samtal med Putin en gång i april 2021, ett samtal som ska ha handlat om rymden. ”De älskar det inte” Enligt källorna är samtalen mellan ryska presidenten och miljardären en väl bevarad hemlighet i den amerikanska regeringen. Flera som tidningen har pratat med visste inte om kontakten. En person som tidningen pratar med menar att det uppstår ett dilemma eftersom man förlitar sig på Musks rymdraketer. Samtidigt finns inga larm om säkerhetsintrång. – De älskar det inte, säger personen om var regeringen anser om kontakterna mellan Musk och Putin.

Utspelet: "Han vet att jag är galen"

Utspelet: "Han vet att jag är galen"

Det är extremt jämnt inför presidentvalet i USA som avgörs i början av november. Siffrorna varierar dag för dag. Ibland leder Republikanernas kandidat Donald Trump och ibland leder Demokraternas kandidat Kamala Harris. Om det skulle bli expresidenten Donald Trump som vinner valet så är han säker på en sak. Nämligen att Kina inte skulle våga provocera honom då ”Xi Jinping vet att jag är galen”, säger han i en intervju med The Wall Street Journal. – Jag hade en väldigt stark relation med honom. Han var faktiskt en riktigt god, jag vill inte säga vän, jag vill inte säga något dumt, men vi kom väldigt bra överens, säger Trump. Hotar med höga tullar I intervjun säger han också att han skulle införa tullar på mellan 150 och 200 procent mot Kina om de inför en blockad mot Taiwan. Trump får också frågan om amerikanska soldater skulle kunna sättas in i samband med det. – Jag skulle inte behöva det, eftersom han (Xi Jinping reds. anm.) respekterar mig och vet att jag är galen, säger han. Samtalen med Putin Donald Trump säger också att han och Vladimir Putin hade flera samtal under hans tid i Vita Huset och att han kom bra överens med den ryske presidenten. – Jag sa: ”Vladimir, om du ger dig på Ukraina kommer jag slå till mot dig så hårt att du inte kommer fatta vad som hände. Jag kommer slå till mot dig mitt i Moskva. Vi är vänner, jag vill inte göra det, men jag har inget alternativ”, säger han i intervjun.

Xi Jinping på YouTube

The rise of Xi Jinping, explained

How Xi Jinping became China's most powerful leader since Mao Zedong Help keep Vox free for everybody: ...

Vox på YouTube

History of Xi Jinping

Join my community at http://johncoogan.com (enter your email) SOURCES: This would have been impossible without this ...

John Coogan på YouTube

The world of China’s President Xi Jinping | DW Documentary

President Xi Jinping wants to establish the People's Republic of China as the leading world power of tomorrow. Never before has ...

DW Documentary på YouTube

Here's what happened after Chinese President Xi Jinping's aide arrived late for the BRICS meeting…

Brut India på YouTube

Chinese President Xi Jinping confronts Justin Trudeau at G20 | USA TODAY #Shorts

Chinese President Xi Jinping criticized Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau at the G20 summit for leaking details of a private ...

USA TODAY på YouTube

Xi Jinping i poddar

Redder than red

Xi Jinping is born into the top rung of China's elite. But his family is torn apart while he is still a child. The Economist's Sue-Lin Wong finds out why Xi kept faith in the Communist revolution.Subscribe to The Economist with the best offer at economist.com/chinapod.

Hide and bide

As a modest provincial official in Fujian, Xi Jinping is outshone by his celebrity wife, while colleagues are caught up in a lurid corruption scandal. How does Xi survive? Subscribe to The Economist with the best offer at economist.com/chinapod.

Biden and Xi mend ties

A recent visit to the US by China’s president Xi Jinping has raised hopes of a bilateral rapprochement. But how stable is this more positive relationship and can a conflict over Taiwan be averted? Gideon discusses these questions with Washington-based China experts Evan Medeiros and Jude Blanchette. Clip: CNBCFree links to read more on this topic:America and a crumbling global orderMoody’s cuts China’s credit outlook to negativeUS, UK and Australia move to track ‘emerging threats’ in spaceEU must stand up for Taiwan at China summitSubscribe to The Rachman Review wherever you get your podcasts - please listen, rate and subscribe.Presented by Gideon Rachman. Produced by Fiona Symon. Sound design is by Breen TurnerRead a transcript of this episode on FT.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Two Superpowers Walk Into a Garden

One of the most highly anticipated diplomatic events of the year took place this week in a mansion outside San Francisco. President Biden and Xi Jinping, China’s top leader, met to repair their countries’ relations, which had sunk to one of their lowest points in decades.Edward Wong, a diplomatic correspondent for The New York Times, discusses the effort to bring the relationship back from the brink.Guest: Edward Wong, a diplomatic correspondent for The New York Times.Background reading: Both American and Chinese accounts of the meeting indicated scant progress on the issues that have pushed the two nations to the edge of conflict.China’s depiction of Xi Jinping’s U.S. visit reflected his sometimes-contradictory priorities: to project both strength and a willingness to engage with Washington.For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

Introducing The Prince

Xi Jinping is the most powerful person in the world. But the real story of China’s leader remains a mystery. The Economist’s Sue-Lin Wong finds out how he rose to the top in a new podcast series launching on September 28th. For more China coverage, subscribe to The Economist and find a special offer at economist.com/chinapod.

January 3rd, 2024: Hamas Hit, Xi’s Rare Reveal, & Gay Gone

In this episode of The President's Daily Brief: We uncover the details of the Israeli military's strategic operation that neutralized a key Hamas figure, escalating tensions in the Middle East. We discuss President Xi Jinping's startling admission about China's economic struggles in his New Year's Eve speech, a first in his tenure. We recount the shocking assault on South Korean opposition leader Lee Jae-myung and his narrow escape from what could have been a fatal incident. Our coverage extends to America's southern border, where December saw an unprecedented surge in illegal migrant encounters, raising alarms on national security. And we conclude with the unfolding story of Harvard University President Claudine Gay, who resigns amid a scandal.   Please remember to subscribe if you enjoyed this episode of The President's Daily Brief. Email: PDB@TheFirstTV.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Chairman Mao Zedong vs. President Xi Jinping

The hosts unravel the lives and legacies of two Chinese dictators; Chairman Mao Zedong and current President of China Xi Jinping. They discuss Mao's involvement in the creation of the Chinese Communist Party, the Chinese civil war fighting the Nationalists, the world war fighting the Japanese, his brutality in taking control of China, the millions of deaths in his Great Leap Forward and the hysteria and horror of the Mao's Cultural Revolution. They also discuss President Xi Jinping's suffering under Mao, his ascension to the top of the CCP, the genocide of the Uyghur people, the attempted cover up of the coronavirus outbreak, his crackdown on Hong Kong and future plans for Taiwan. These two dictators battle it out in Round 19 of the knock-out tournament to determine the single greatest dictator of all time. One of these two dictators will be eliminated from the tournament and the other will remain in contention to be crowned history's biggest dictator.

Xi Jinping: The man behind the myth

This August, we're revisiting some of our favourite episodes from the past year.Xi Jinping is consolidating his position as the all-powerful president of China. But who is the man at the top of the sharpest pyramid in the world of politics?This podcast was brought to you thanks to the support of readers of The Times and The Sunday Times. Subscribe today and get one month free at: thetimes.co.uk/storiesofourtimes.Host: David Aaronovitch.Guest: Michael Sheridan, former foreign correspondent for The Sunday Times and author of The Gate to China: A New History of the People's Republic & Hong Kong.Clips: ABC, South China Morning Post, No Comment TV, BBC, CCTV Video News Agency, Periscope Film, Al Jazeera, CBS, VICE News. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Xi Jinping-Biden meeting to focus on US election concerns

Xi Jinping-Biden meeting to focus on US election concerns

How Xi Jinping did it

Just over a decade ago, President Xi Jinping was a virtual unknown. Few would say that now. In ten years, he’s reworked the Chinese Communist party, the military and the government so that he’s firmly in control. He’s also vanquished all of his obvious rivals. And now, he’s about to extend his time in office. Some say Xi might stay in the top job indefinitely. So how did Xi Jinping do it? Celia Hatton, the BBC’s Asia Pacific Editor, speaks to fellow China watchers to find out.Producer: Rob Walker Editor: Clare Fordham Researcher: Ben Cooper Studio Manager: James Beard Production Coordinators: Maria Ogundele and Helena Warwick-CrossWith special thanks to Kerry Allen.(Photo: Chinese President Xi Jinping attends the art performance celebrating the 100th anniversary of the Founding of the Communist Party of China in 2021. Credit: Lintao Zhang/Getty Images)

Cut The Clutter : Understanding Xi Jinping’s defence & military-industry ‘purge’, corruption & ‘self-revolution’

Chinese President Xi Jinping has been carrying out a purge within the corridors of power as part of his “crackdown” on the “cancer of corruption”. The latest officials netted in this drive, now in its second decade, include nine top generals and three leaders of state-owned military enterprises. In episoe 1377 of #CutTheClutter, Editor-in-Chief Shekhar Gupta discusses Xi’s purge, what’s driving it, and how it plays into his larger strategic agenda. https://www.youtube.com/@CoorgWildernessResort More here - https://www.coorgwildernessresort.in