The 5th World Forum of Chinese Descendents was held on October 28, 2008 in Beijing.Some 200 Chinese scholars, businessmen, and representatives from 16 countries and regions were present at the meeting.  

Chinese students returned from abroad have become an important source of innovation personnel in the country, and they are needed by China's reform and opening, and by proprietary innovations, said WAN Gang, Vice-Chairman of Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference and Chinese Minister of Science and Technology at the Forum.

He added that the Chinese government has made nurturing and fostering innovation personnel an important objective of the S&T development, and will create a system and environment favorable for making talented people stand out one after the other, and for establishing an academic leader contingent made up of high caliber personnel. Chinese students studying abroad are encouraged to return and serve their motherland through a range of incentive policies, including the Hundred Talents Program, Cheung Kong Scholars Program, and major projects under the framework of international S&T cooperation. Many government agencies have offered favorable treatments to encourage Chinese students to return, demonstrating their ardent hope for high caliber personnel. (China Science and Technology Newsletter)