The Management of Foreigners in China: Changes to the Migration Law and Regulations during the Late HuWen and Early XiLi Eras and Their Potential Effects

Abstract

AbstractSeveral substantial changes and amendments to the migration law of the People's Republic of China (PRC) have been introduced during the late Hu-Wen and early Xi-Li eras. The major objective of this article is to discuss whether the new provisions will generally change non-Chinese foreigners' livelihoods and opportunities for working and residing in the country. This paper analyses policy documents and reports, scholarly literature on the management of foreigners in China, and national and international media reports. We conclude that while there has been a rhetorical shiftfrom a focus on strictly managing and controlling foreigners in China to attracting and promoting their inflow since the Hu-Wen era, new measures benefitting foreigners primarily target the so-called foreign talents. At the same time, greater emphasis is placed on monitoring and controlling other groups of foreigners and on reducing the three illegalities (illegal entry, illegal employment, and illegal stay). The new regulations that were released under the new leadership of Xi-Li during the summer of 2013 account for continuity since the Hu Wen era. The recent population census indicated that the number of foreigners in China is insignificant compared to the country's total population. However, the recent changes have made clear that the current PRC regime does not intend to increase the number of foreigners substantially and approaches its foreign population cautiously.Keywords: migration law, African migration, illegal migration, international migration, leadership changeJEL Classification: F22, J15, J61, K31(ProQuest: ... denotes non-US-ASCII text omitted.)1. IntroductionEach generation of Chinese leaders since the opening reforms had acted deliberately in revealing the direction that reforms would take during its legislative period (cf. Callahan 201 3). Cautious and long-term preparations ensured a smooth leadership transition during the last turnover from the generation of leaders under Hu Jintao and Wen Jiabao to the new regime led by Xi Jinping and Li Keqiang. Maintaining political, social and economic stability during this period is deemed of the highest importance for preventing socio-political unrest, maintaining steady economic growth, and maintaining one-party rule. Therefore, we can only surmise possible paths that will be pursued by the new leadership. Yet, Xi and Li joined the nine-member Politburo Standing Committee during the 1 7th Congress of the Chinese Communist Party in 2007, and have been groomed as the heirs and deputies of Hu and Wen; for this reason, Xiao (201 3) expects continuity of policy rather than change.Nevertheless, the management of foreigners in the People's Republic of China (PRC) has developed through the amendments and revisions in entry and exit administration law announced and partly implemented around the time of the leadership change during the late Hu-Wen era and the early Xi-Li era. The main objective of this article is to discuss the expected effects of the recent migration law changes. Will the management of foreigners change, and if so, to what extent? What are the implications for foreigners' livelihoods and opportunities to work and reside in the country? In this paper, we focus on non-Chinese foreigners who live in or seek to live in mainland China (that is, not including the Hong Kong and Macao Special Administrative Regions). Therefore, we examine a narrower portion of China's migration law than is commonly considered in scholarly literature, which usually includes outflows of Chinese citizens for the purposes of tourism, visiting relatives, studying abroad, employment, or permanent residence and their return as well as the Haiwai Huaren (Chinese overseas) (e.g. Liang and Morooka, 2008; Zhu et al., 2008; Liu, 2009, 2011 ).Attracted by China's unprecedented economic boom and its resulting opportunities and demands, an increasing number of foreigners from diverse places have flown into the country, particularly in the aftermath of China's WTO accession. …