China recently introduced new regulations that holders of "Foreigner's Permanent Residence Card in China (referred to as the Chinese "green card") shall in principle enjoy the same rights and assume the same obligations as Chinese citizens except for political rights and the specific rights and obligations not eligible according to laws and regulations.

"This initiative will provide convenience for foreigners especially overseas Chinese to permanently reside in China, and has a positive significance to attract their techniques and funds," said Professor Long Denggao, director of the Chinese Entrepreneur Research Center of Tsinghua University.

Official data show that nearly 5,000 foreigners have handled the formalities for permanent residence since the implementation of the Chinese "green card" system in August 2004.

Long pointed out that China's "green card" threshold is still relatively higher than that of the developed countries in the world, which makes many overseas Chinese flinch.

The lowering of the threshold for application for Chinese "green card" by the government may after all be considered as a realistic choice to attract overseas Chinese talents, capital, and technologies.

In fact, China has formulated many preferential policies for overseas Chinese to work and live in China through initiatives such as the expansion of issuance objects of residence permit in recent years. But because of the lack of social awareness, these policies became the "Sleeping Beauty".

Regarding this, Long Denggao said: "The relevant departments should implement the policies to relax the conditions, expand the channels, and provide convenience for handling relevant matters."

Due to the huge demand, overseas Chinese have become one of the main sources of high-end management and technical personnel in China, said Professor Zhuang Guotu, Dean of the School of International Relations, Xiamen University.

"Among the foreigners in China, overseas Chinese, especially Chinese migrants who return to China for investment or seeking jobs grew the fastest. Overseas Chinese are the main force for inflow of foreign capital to China since the reform and opening up, and are the major groups for starting high-tech businesses," said Zhuang.

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