Dr Wong also urged students intending to further their studies in China to pay attention to the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China to understand the country better before embarking on their journey.
SIBU (Jan 11): The Chinese government’s lifting of travel restrictions and reopening of its border on Jan 8 is expected to see an influx of Malaysian students studying in China and vice versa.
Sarawak China Graduates Alumni Association chairman Dr Wong Siu Eing said the reopening of the border would also revive the global economy and attract foreign companies to invest in China.
“With the joint efforts of the Malaysia and China governments, this will play a positive role in promoting the wave of Malaysian students to China and vice versa in 2023 and many of them have already returned to their schools to resume classes,” he said in a statement.
Wong said currently, there are nearly 30,000 Chinese students studying in Malaysia and more than 10,000 Malaysian students studying in China.
Through the continuous development of China’s foreign policy, he predicted more Malaysian students would still be attracted to China to further their studies this year.
In the 2022 World University Rankings just released by the Times, China has 147 Universities on the list, hence the prospect of studying in China is even more promising.
Wong admitted the Malaysian students studying in China and vice versa were affected during the past two-year Covid-19 pandemic but the situation had vastly improved.
“We were encouraged by the decision of the Chinese government to reopen its border and many activities that were suspended due to the epidemic will resume in an orderly manner.
“We have also received lots of invitations and enquiries from many provinces and cities in China for various activities such as workshops, training courses, delegation’s visit and youth winter camps.
“I am confident that the economic, trade, cultural and educational exchanges and cooperation between Malaysia and China will return to the pre-epidemic situation in a short period of time.”
In recent years, Wong said the world in general has been paying close attention to China’s educational policies and measures for international students.
“We find that the Chinese government has strengthened the restructuring of various systems for studying in China, increased scholarship funding projects, standardised and improved the admission criteria thresholds for international students,” he said.
Adding on, Wong also reminded students intending to further their studies in China to pay attention to the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China to understand China better before embarking on their journey.
He said the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China will have a big and positive impact on the Chinese community.
“The 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China is to determine China’s personnel, policies and the direction of Sino-US relationship in the next five years or longer.
“It is not only about China’s politics but will have a positive impact on the world situation and peaceful development when it announced to the world the new strategy, new goals and news ideas of the Communist Party of China for the next five years.”