New reliance on Chinese-funded projects sparks concern

The Straits Times

22 December 2016

The campus is not quite completed yet but China’s first overseas university, being built on a massive 61ha area, has already enrolled 1,300 students for its first year of operation.

Encouraged by its early success, Xiamen University Malaysia near the administrative capital Putrajaya expects to complete the first phase of construction, costing RM800 million (S$258 million), by early next year, before another RM500 million is invested to further building for a maximum capacity of 10,000 students.

It appears that Malaysia welcomes untested, exported Chinese education as warmly as it embraces hundreds of billions of ringgit in planned incoming investments from the Asian superpower. Not that it has many options – Chinese interest comes even as total private investments into Malaysia fell by 30 per cent in the first half of 2016.

… “The danger of economic overdependence on China for Malaysia is that Beijing can leverage that,” said S Rajaratnam School of International Studies’ (RSIS’) Johan Saravanamuttu, who studies Malaysia-China relations.

… Additionally, US-Malaysia political ties could change under the incoming administration of Mr Donald Trump. “Trump is not into all these overseas ventures. He wants to focus on the US economy,” RSIS Institute of Defence and Strategic Studies’ senior fellow Oh Ei Sun told The Straits Times. The Philippines, under President Rodrigo Duterte, has also shown a higher inclination to listen to Beijing.

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