Third Edition Spring 2013 - Institute of East Asian Studies, UC ...

EducationSecondary 6 4.6%Diploma 17 13.0%Bachelor 105 80.2%Post-graduate 3 2.3%Regardless of ethnic background, the majority of respondentsexpressed positive views of China’s national image (71%)and China’s efforts in dealing with global and regional issues(69.2%), reflecting Malaysian people’s generally positive impressionsof China. The differences between ethnic groups are not statisticallysignificant (Table 2 and 3).Table 2How do you view China’s national image?Ethnic Group Responses PercentagePositive 77.9%Non-Chinese Negative 5.9%Neutral 16.2%Positive 63.5%Chinese Negative 8%Neutral 28.5%Table 3How do you view China’s efforts in dealing with global and regionalissues?Ethnic Group Responses PercentagePositive 75%Non-Chinese Negative 14.7%Neutral 10.3%Positive 62.9%Chinese Negative 16.1%Neutral 21%On other issues, however, there were huge divergences betweenethnic Chinese respondents and their non-Chinese counterparts:Table 4Which one of following countries is Malaysia’s most importantpartner?Ethnic Group Name of Country PercentageJapan 35.80%Non-Chinese China 31.30%The United States 20.90%Others 11.90%China 60.30%ChineseThe United States 23.80%Japan 11.10%Others 4.80%In this survey, I asked the participants to answer the question:which country is Malaysia’s most important partner, and listed“The United States,” “Japan,” “China” and “Others” as options.The Chinese respondents demonstrated a significant preferencefor China, with 60.3% of them selecting China as Malaysia’s “mostimportant partner.” In comparison, non-Chinese respondents didnot show any particular preference for any single country. Amongthree options, Japan ranked first, accounting for 35.8%, while Chinaand the US had slightly smaller proportions, namely 31.3% and20.9% (Table 4).Table 5Free trade between China and Malaysia will damage Malaysia’s interests.Ethnic Group Responses PercentageAgree 82.10%Non-Chinese Disagree 14.90%Do not Know 3%9 Kankan Xie Ethnicity And China-Malaysia Relations 10