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.
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