The Annual Report on Chinese International Migration (2018), a subset of the Blue Book of Global Talent series, was published in June, providing a panorama of the current situation of international migrants with a focus on China.

The report, compiled by Center for China and Globalization, consists of four chapters: an overview of the status quo and trend of migration in the world, a chapter that delves into the African immigrants living in China, a chapter on major Western countries’ migration trends and policy, and one discussing the relevant management policies.

China is the fourth largest source country of international emigrants, following India, Mexico and Russia, the report says quoting data from United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs as of 2015, and about 9.54 million people from Chinese mainland are living in foreign countries.

The report points out that seven of the top 20 destinations for those Chinese emigrants in 2015 are countries involved in the Belt and Road Initiative, namely Singapore, Cambodia, Thailand, Indonesia, Russia, the Philippines, and Myanmar. However, the US remains the No 1 in terms of Chinese immigrants population -- a total of 2.1 million.

Some noticeable characteristics of Chinese emigrants are that they are distributed equally in the developed and developing countries, and that overseas remittances made by Chinese emigrants ranks second around the globe, signaling Chinese labor migrants have made a contribution to domestic growth.

In terms of receiving migrants, the report finds that although China is not the top destination country for international immigrants, expatriates have higher expectation for China when seeking careers than for Southeast Asia, with higher pay as the major reason.

The second part of the report analyzes the challenges in managing expatriates in China and consequent measures as well as patterns of different ethnic groups immigrating to China.

African immigrants in Guangzhou are mainly discussed. The report finds that most Africans in Guangzhou engage in low-tech labor-intensive industries such as trade. This part also points out that locals have misunderstandings toward those Africans due to inaccurate media reports.

However, historically, Africa has been China’s important partner. The report states that good management on African communities in Guangzhou is conducive to Sino-African cooperation especially in facilitating the implementation of the Belt and Road Initiative in Africa and further building a community of shared future for mankind.

The third part studies migration policies in the US, Russia and Japan. Since US President Donald Trump took office, great changes have taken place in US immigration policies. Under the principle of “America First”, Trump has tightened the immigration polices including repatriating illegal immigrants. Such measures reduce crime rates among immigrants but to some extent exert negative effects on the US economy.

The fourth part analyzes key topics including global talent mobility, forced migrants in Southeast Asia and the health situation of migrants.

On the whole, China has made efforts in researching and solving international migration issues. The establishment of the State Immigration Administration earlier this year signals a significant step in improving immigration system with international competitiveness, the report says.

Jin Tiantian contributed to the story.