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Huanqiu Times Editorial: How Should We View China’s Introduction of the ‘K’ Visa?

Huanqiu Times published an editorial examining China’s introduction of the “K visa,” a new category designed to facilitate the entry of young foreign scientific and technological talents. Effective October 1, the visa simplifies the application process by removing the requirement for an invitation or employment offer within China. It allows holders to engage in education, science, culture, entrepreneurship, and business activities.

The policy reflects China’s broader strategy to attract global talent, strengthen scientific innovation, and promote international collaboration. It positions China as an emerging hub for global talent, highlighting openness and confidence in the new era.

In contrast to the U.S. H-1B visa, which primarily serves employment purposes, China’s K visa emphasizes fostering international exchange and collaboration in science and technology. The editorial underscores that attracting talent depends not only on material incentives but also on creating a supportive environment that respects innovation and embraces cultural diversity.

Source: Huanqiu Times, September 29, 2025
https://opinion.huanqiu.com/article/4OWgoBBxgff

Briefings | | |   Government/Politics Report

Pandemic: Shanghai Partially and Shenzhen Fully Locked Down, Jilin Locked Down the Province

The COVID-19 virus is spreading in China. Beijing, Shanghai, and Shenzhen all reported Omicron cases. Authorities reported 3,507 confirmed infection cases and 1,647 asymptomatic cases, or 5,154 cases in total, in one day on March 14; whereas, in the past, the official daily infected count was only in the range of one or a few hundred. The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is known for hiding COVID information, so the actual infection count is unknown.

China’s National Health Commission issued a statement on March 15 that from March 1 to 14, the cumulative number of reported infections in China exceeded 15,000  and has spread to 28 provinces and municipalities.

Several cities in China were locked down. The Shenzhen City, Guangdong Province lockdown was from March 14 to 21. Shanghai is also partially locked down: schools, residential communities, and hospitals that had COVID cases or had people in close contact with COVID patients were locked down. All train and long-distance bus stations were closed on March 14, and all elementary and middle schools have changed to online teaching.

Other locked-down cities include Changchun, the capital city of Jilin Province on March 11; Yuchen City, Shandong Province on March 11; Dongguan City, Guangdong Province on March 14; and Langfang City, Hebei Province on March 15. Shengyang City, Liaoning Province shut down its international airport on March 15.

Jilin Province became the first locked down province in this round. It reported 4,067 cases on March 14 and an accumulation of over 8,000 patients since February 28. Authorities announced a lockdown of the whole province on March 14, prohibiting its 24 million residents from leaving the province. Jilin City in the province also built several modular hospitals with 10,000 beds.

Jiangsu Province, next to Shanghai, asked its residents to report any person coming from Shanghai or other infected areas. Wuxi City, Jiangsu published an award policy on March 12: reporting a person who had close contact with a COVID patient but didn’t quarantine himself would receive an award 2,000 yuan (US $315); reporting a person who left home while taking home quarantine – award 1,000 yuan; and reporting a person who came from an infected area but didn’t report himself to the local authorities – award 500 yuan. If any of the reported persons tested positive, the reporter will be awarded another 10,000 yuan. Nantong City, Jiangsu Province also announced an award of 200 yuan for reporting a person coming from Shanghai or other high or medium risk areas that the local authorities are not aware of.

Related postings on Chinascope:

Sources:
1. Epoch Times, March 15, 2022
https://www.epochtimes.com/gb/22/3/15/n13647510.htm.
2. VOA, March 16, 2022
https://www.voachinese.com/a/china-s-soaring-covid-infections-fuel-concern-about-cost-of-containment-20220315/6486381.html
3. Deutsche Well, March, March 14, 2022
https://www.dw.com/zh/中国疫情蔓延27省市-吉林封省/a-61123005
4. Liberty Times, March 13, 2022
https://news.ltn.com.tw/news/world/breakingnews/3858442

Briefings | | |   Report Social Stability

Xinjiang Re-Education Camps Duplicated in Tibet

The BBC reported in July that Lobsang Sangay, the Tibetan president-in-exile, said that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has set up camps in Tibet to hold Tibetans, duplicating the Muslim Uyghur camps in Xinjiang. “We do have these camps but not as large as the Uyghurs, so a lot of people are sent for education through labor, imprisonment, and detention.”

On October 29, 2019, RFA reported on the Tibetan camps in greater detail. RFA interviewed Dawa Cairen, a representative of the Tibetan Executive Central Committee in Dharamsala, India. He explained that the CCP is using “vocational training schools” to brainwash young Tibetans forcibly while calling it “patriotic education.”

Dawa Cairen said that, in 2008, the Chinese government, in the name of national compulsory education, forced almost all Tibetan children to move into boarding schools. The schools isolated those children from their mother culture, that of Tibet. The schools followed militarized management, preventing students from going out and in effect turning the schools into prisons.

The CCP recently discovered a gap in its control of the Tibetan youth. In recent years, many students have graduated from those compulsory education schools. Among them, those who did not get into college went home, to monasteries, or to other places where they could learn traditional Tibetan culture, or such subjects as Tibetan sculpture or Tibetan calligraphy.

The CCP recently rushed to establish “vocational training schools” to gather those young men back under its control. These vocational schools do not have standard offerings. Some just teach whatever the teachers they find are able to teach. “They may teach nursing today, animal treatment tomorrow, and machinery maintenance the day after. There are no real courses.”

“The main things that (those vocational straining schools) teach is the (CCP’s) laws, the religions that are under the CCP’s control, patriotism education, and CCP history. Students must learn, memorize, and take tests on these subjects. The schools give rewards to those who learn these subjects well, such as vacation days to go home.”

Students are required to sing “red songs” (the songs praising the CCP) before each meal at those schools.

Dawa Cairen said that he received reliable information that the CCP had arrested a couple because they sent their child to a monastery after he graduated from the 10th grade. The CCP threatened to sentence them if they wouldn’t take their son out of the monastery, but the parents chose to be sentenced to keep their child in the monastery, because they felt that it was their child’s will to be a monk. Then the CCP arrested the child, and forced the parents to yield.

Dawa Cairen pointed out that some Tibetans have been arrested for running Tibetan-language tutoring classes during students’ summer and winter vacations. One Tibetan who advocated teaching the Tibetan language was even sentenced to five years in prison for “inciting secession.”

The report said that there is a “vocational technical training school” in Lhasa, Tibet. The authorities have asked the governments of the seven counties and one district, all under the jurisdiction of Lhasa, to send their rural youths who might have the rebel spirit to the school for brainwashing education.

The report included a satellite picture of a “vocational technical training school” in Lhasa. [Editor’s note: From the information in that picture, we can see that this school is located in Cainaxiang, 39 km southwest of Lhasa and 25 km north of the Lhasa Airport.]

Sources:
1. Radio Free Asia, October 29, 2019 https://www.rfa.org/mandarin/yataibaodao/shaoshuminzu/hx1-10292019111955.html
2. BBC, July 1, 2019
https://www.bbc.com/news/av/world-asia-48804625/lobsang-sangay-tibetans-being-detained-in-camps-by-chinese

Briefings | | |   Report