Given the sometimes dismal way talented people are treated in China, the standard impression the nation conveys is that it cares little for professional competence; but the mid- to long-term talent development strategy unveiled recently has shown remarkable concern over the country's lack of brainpower.

The document has promised to de-bureaucratize professional institutions such as hospitals, universities and research entities.

For a bureaucracy accustomed to keeping things under its control, this seems like an immense sacrifice.

Unlike previous calls for promoting talent however, this one has set specific goals and targets. The way in which earlier campaigns to tap talent has often fallen flat means the current one should be taken with a pinch of salt.

Official quotas to attract talented professionals may get filled easily, but many questions remain as to whether the country will turn into a hotbed of talent over the next 10 years.

Over the years, various schemes to tap overseas talent have resulted in quite a few professionals relocating to the country. Ironically though, the same can be said of well-trained professionals flying abroad frustrated at the talent-unfriendly culture they encounter here routinely.

Setting quotas is fine and easy, but it is more meaningful to focus on mending the process by which the system identifies and treats talented professionals.

If that is not addressed, the ambitious drive may end up making little difference to the domestic professional culture.

(China Daily 06/10/2010 page8)