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Kuala Lumpur: The Federation of Chinese Associations Malaysia (Huazong) welcomed China’s plan to allow international students, including from Malaysia, to return to the country to resume their studies.

Its President Tan Sri T.C Goh said such bilateral cooperation would allow Malaysian students, who had earlier enrolled into various universities in China before the Covid-19 pandemic, to report to their respective universities in person.

He also hoped the Government could allow Chinese students to enter Malaysia to further their studies.

Goh said Huazong had proposed that once the pandemic is under control, the Malaysian and Chinese governments should consider introducing an “education corridor” akin to the Vaccinated Travel Lane (VTL) programme. “Irrespective of what the final approach would be, what really matters is to allow the students of the two countries to complete their studies,” he said in a statement, Monday.

He was responding to Foreign Minister Datuk Saifuddin Abdullah’s statement that China is planning to allow international students, including from Malaysia, to return to the country to resume their studies.

Saifuddin made the statement following a meeting with his Chinese counterpart, Wang Yi, in the inaugural meeting of the Malaysia-China High Level Committee on post-Covid-19 cooperation co-chaired by Wang Yi.

Goh hoped following their discussion, the governments of Malaysia and China would simplify the immigration clearance procedures for the students, except for the necessary standard operating procedures (SOPs) to contain Covid-19.

Additionally, he said the government should also pay due attention to Malaysian students who had enrolled in various universities in China prior to the pandemic, and till today were unable to report to their respective universities in person.

“Huazong has received feedback from some concerned parents over the issue in the past two years, and some of them are considering cancelling the plan for their children to further their studies,” he said.

Meanwhile, Goh was also delighted over the Chinese government’s pledge to contribute another two million doses of Sinovac’s CoronaVac Covid-19 vaccine to Malaysia, describing it as a timely intervention.

He said this was especially true, citing the recent overwhelming enthusiasm among Malaysians in getting the Sinovac vaccine shots, which inevitably resulted in the said vaccine running out of supply.

He also hoped that with the emergence of new and more contagious Covid-19 variants, Malaysia and China could step up collaboration in development and production of vaccines, so as to better combat the pandemic.