China should have attracted more Indian talent in the field of science and technology instead of looking at the United States and Europe, a column in the state-run Global Times said. “China has made the mistake of ignoring Indian talent, and instead has attached a greater importance to talent coming from the US and Europe,” it said.
The column came after reports said that US-based software firm CA Technologies has disbanded its 300-person research and development team in China and is heading to India with 2,000 scientific and technical professionals. Stating that China cannot afford to risk its “attractiveness for high-tech investors”, the daily said bringing in Indian talent could be one of China’s options for “maintaining its innovation ability”.
Citing lower labour costs in India, the column said some high-tech firms were now turning their attention to India. “With a sufficient young talent pool, India is becoming increasingly attractive,” it said. The talent pool in China is not “large and flexible enough”, it added.
The column further says that the cost of employing an Indian engineer is just half of hiring a Chinese employee. Some enterprises in China’s Guizhou Province provide “much better standard of living in Guizhou cities than in Bangalore”, the daily said.
Like Silicon Valley in the US, China should attract more foreign talent and aim to build itself “a world-class research hub”, the column suggested. In 2016, as many as 1,576 foreigners were granted permanent residency in China. The number had seen an increase of 163% from the previous year.
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