torsdag 7. oktober 2021

China must become an immigration magnet if it wants to overtake the US

As China continues its rise, its leadership’s unstated goal seems to be to overtake the United States as the world’s leading power. If China really wants to achieve this, the best thing it can do is learn from America’s example, become a magnet for people around the globe and convince them to become Chinese citizens. The US might have the world’s largest economy and most expensive military, but its real strength is that for centuries it has been a magnet for people all over the world. Thanks to its living standards, democratic values, open society and world-class education and research, it has attracted millions of immigrants who started calling America home.

Among them were some of the world’s brightest minds, who made America’s technological development possible. Almost a third of all US Nobel laureates in physics, chemistry or medicine were born overseas. But the benefits of immigration go beyond technology or even economics. Henry Kissinger, Zbigniew Brzezinski, Madeleine Albright and Samantha Power are some of the immigrants who ended up guiding America’s foreign policy.