This is my comment sent to China Daily on the following article:
http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/usa/2010-08/25/content_11201956.htm
First of all I doubt your figure of 20,000 Green Card holders in 2004 is correct. Official figures published in 2009 indicate a grand total of 311 Green Card holders in Beijing. Figures for Shanghai most probably are similar but a bit higher. As a matter of fact China now has stopped giving out the Cards, applications are accepted but rarely if ever granted. One can wonder why the system was even started. A consequence of the near non-existence of Card holders is the humiliating experience when using it. Most airport security people ignore its existence and require to show a passport. I normally refuse; in Beijing Airport I normally have few problems. As the Card is the proof of visa, a passport alone is not enough. The lack of training of security people and others makes Green Card holders feel discriminated while it should be rather an honor.
If some Chinese people start worrying about the impact of foreigners in China and try to draft a new “Immigration Law” to even limit more the influx of foreigners, it will show a bad image for China as being unwelcoming. Reliable figures do not exist about the foreign community in China. Beijing is said to have over 110,000 long-term foreign residents; Shanghai figures are much higher. The latest official China figures (2007) reported 538,892 foreigners lived in China for more than 6 months. I believe real figures are much higher, considering foreign students and many uncounted foreigners. Some estimate that the Japanese, South Korean and Taiwanese communities alone by far exceed the official total.
Even if we assume a total of 1.5 million, that is a drop in the ocean compared to a Chinese population of over 1.3 billion. There are probably more Chinese living in the USA than foreigners in China.
If China wants to be an open and international country, part of the world community, some of our Chinese friends should think it over.
Gilbert
Green Card holder