The comments by Dong Mingzhu, chairwoman of Gree Group and China’s “home appliance queen”, have fuelled debate over global versus local talent in China amid ongoing tension with the United States.
Dong told a closed-door shareholder meeting last week that her company would “never use a haigui pai”, or people who had been educated or worked overseas, because there could be spies among them.
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Trump promises to bring US manufacturing back from China, but will his tariffs work?
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Her comments were leaked to the public and sparked controversy across the country.
In the latest response, the Society of Younger Generation Entrepreneurs Returned from Overseas of Shanxi Province – also known as the Shanxi Returnees’ Chamber of Commerce – published an open letter on Monday demanding Dong “be held accountable for her inappropriate remarks and apologise to the overseas students and the whole society”.
It also said that if her company had discriminatory recruitment policies, they should be rectified.
“Ms Dong imposed the ungrounded ‘spy’ speculation on the entire group [of returnees], which not only lacks data support, but also exposes enthusiastic overseas students to prejudice,” the statement said.
“We urge Ms Dong Mingzhu to correct her wrong perceptions and [maintain] an open and inclusive environment for talent development.”
