Canada urged to maintain ties with Chinese immigrant returnees

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(Xinhua)
Updated: 2009-01-20 14:43

OTTAWA -- A think-tank on Canada-China relations has urged Ottawa to maintain ties with Chinese and other immigrants who return to their homeland as a means to boost bilateral trade and enhance Canada's competitiveness.

Although Canada is attracting many educated young professionals as immigrants and foreign students to study here, these people now stay for only a short time before returning to their homeland, said the Asia Pacific Foundation (APF) in a statement Monday.

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This comes as part of a new wave of Chinese transnationalism that is happening all over the world, which has resulted from the emerging market opportunities in China and the lack of career advancement opportunities in Canada and other developed countries, according to the statement.

In two studies, the APF provides an extensive analysis of Chinese returnees and of Chinese immigrants' transnational entrepreneurial activities, concluding that Canada is losing these talented people but can still benefit from them by maintaining ties with them.

It urged Ottawa to update its policies and be more proactive in engaging these new transnational Chinese returnees to develop ties while they are in Canada and to maintain connections with them when they return to China.

In the first report "Limited Engagement: Mainland Returnees from Canada," author David Zweig of Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, suggests greater financial support for Chinese students and more help to place young Chinese graduates in Canadian internships.

In the second report "Transnational Entrepreneurs as Agents of International Innovation Linkages," the authors suggest establishing a Canada-based innovation and entrepreneurship platform targeting at transnational businesses.

They also suggest Ottawa should engage the entrepreneurs' countries of origin in the coordination of migration-mediated innovation activities, as well as review the role of taxation, intellectual property rights, and citizenship on international innovation collaboration.