KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 5 — The number of Chinese citizens living in Malaysia has almost doubled in the past three years, driven largely by an influx of students and new investors, according to the Financial Times.

"Today, there are easily 150,000, and it could even be 200,000 Chinese citizens in Malaysia,” Ngeow Chow Bing, director at the Institute of China Studies at the University of Malaya told Financial Times. He added that this is up from about 82,000 in 2022.

As China’s economic growth slows and the government imposes stricter business regulations, Chinese citizens are increasingly seeking new opportunities abroad where middle-class families are looking at South-east Asia as a more affordable option and in particular, Malaysia, a long-established home to the Chinese diaspora.

This has made Malaysia a top choice, especially with the Malaysia My Second Home (MM2H) programme, which aims to attract not only affluent Chinese but also a broader range of individuals.

Minister of Tourism, Arts and Culture Datuk Seri Tiong King Sing said China held the highest number of active MM2H pass holders, at 24,765.

The uptick is thanks to Chinese investors bringing in some 45,000 owners, managers and workers of Chinese companies to Malaysia, according to a Chinese trade official.

Then there are the Chinese students, avoiding anti-China sentiment in Western countries such as the US and Australia.

Financial Times said that Chinese nationals are now the largest group of foreign students and long-term residents in Malaysia. According to the education ministry, higher education institutions here have seen more than 44,000 Chinese students enrolled last year, a 35 per cent rise from 2021. It also stated the number of Chinese pupils in international schools more than doubled from 2021 to 2023.

"New people are arriving every week,” a representative of the China Entrepreneurs Association in Malaysia told Financial Times, who pointed out that suppliers in the electronics and electric vehicle industries, are coming here to evade US tariffs as they seek to increase capacity outside China.