Malaysia’s China Tourism Trap – Analysis – Eurasia Review
It was recently reported that if Malaysia discriminates against tourists from China, Malaysia will lose at least RM30 billion in tourism revenue this year, and is expected to be overly dependent on low-hanging fruits for a long time in saving its tourism industry, and desperately rely on Chinese tourists as its tourist destination. main source of income.
A firm defense of the need to rely on Chinese tourists is seen, with tourism ministers repeatedly arguing that China is being unfairly targeted, and China being highlighted as a “high risk” country when many other countries also top the Covid-19 cases Infections and deaths, noting that the United States has recorded 99 million infections and 1.08 million deaths. On the other hand, China registered 31,000 deaths and 10.16 million cases, the minister pointed out, further arguing that with a population of 1.4 billion in China, the death toll is only 0.00002%.
All of this reflects a ignorance or disregard for reality, and a quick blind acceptance of the “official figures and figures” presented. It mirrors a syndrome of denial of reality on the ground, going so far as to say that if any action is to be taken, it is up to American travelers to point out the number of cases and deaths in the United States.
Data on the Covid situation in China has been readily accepted as having reported only 10.9 million Covid-19 cases in China and comparing this to the 99 million in the US. It also compares the US death rate of 1.08 million to China’s “only” 36,000.
Specifically pointing out the United States, saying that the number of cases and death rates in the United States are more serious than China’s current situation, reflects China’s official one-sided acceptance and cognition of the official statistics of the new crown virus, in the truth and naked reality. The Covid situation in the country where morgues are overloaded and patients are scrambling for treatment.
No one will fully trust and accept the official figures provided by China in the management of Covid, and doing so reflects the long-term pandering and pitfalls of China’s policymaking towards Malaysia. Fear of Chinese retaliation and angering it through any potential restrictions, as China’s actions against South Korea and others have shown, hinder Malaysia’s options.
It also shows the lack of a real, credible and effective strategy to present a resilient, comprehensive and long-term strategic outlook for Malaysia’s tourism agenda, which remains constrained by the Chinese market and capital.
Daily confirmed Covid-19 cases in the U.S. peaked on Dec. 21, averaging around 70,000, according to global tracker OurWorldInData. However, China stopped reporting infections on December 25 last year, before Beijing decided to reopen its international borders from January 8.
China has stopped official statistics of the death toll, changed the parameters for determining the death toll from the new crown pneumonia, and concealed the real situation according to the facts, which has been condemned by countries around the world, including the WHO. The lack of adequate and transparent epidemiological and viral genome sequence data reported by the Chinese government has fueled concerns that a variant could emerge in China and spread abroad, possibly even displacing the current most The infectious form, Kraken or XBB1.5.
This remains one of the main reasons why many other countries, including the EU, have imposed restrictions, and it is not based on discrimination against China, as Beijing has been repeating.
It is based on a cost-benefit calculation of the impact on each country’s internal capacity and readiness to deal with the potential risk of such a high risk impact from a country that is battling an explosive infection drive driven by reckless and irresponsible actions The Chinese government has no exit plan, putting its citizens at the most risk.
South Korea stood by its decision to impose restrictions. For its part, more than half of the imported cases came from China.
South Korea’s Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said up to 80 percent of South Korea’s imported confirmed cases came from China, and the number of people who tested positive for Covid-19 who had traveled from China increased 14-fold from November to December.
Wastewater testing and periodic symptom testing are another ostensible driver of the syndrome of self-assurance and denial, comfortable in the policy-maker’s own utopian world.
In a move not to impose restrictions, Malaysian tourism policymakers hope they can win the hearts and favors of the Chinese, choosing Malaysia as their preferred destination over countries that have closed their doors to them. However, the reality remains that the country is still far superior to its neighbors Singapore and Thailand in this regard.
According to Trip.com Group, Malaysia did not even make it into the top 10 searches by Chinese tourists between Dec. 26 and Jan. 5. Thailand topped the list and Singapore came in seventh.
Malaysia needs to learn from the early stages of the epidemic in 2020 when no measures were taken to prevent the entry of tourists at risk of carrying Covid-19, which led to more problems that could have been resolved earlier
It shows the stark reality of the Ministry of Tourism’s inability to come up with a bold future-oriented strategic plan to reset our course and shift towards perpetual reliance on China as the easiest low-hanging fruit.
One of the most pressing and causative factors in the early days of the pandemic was China’s reluctance to acknowledge and share the truth and data about the virus’s spread, and its efforts to deny the severity of the virus and the ease with which it spread. At that time, Chinese citizens were allowed to go abroad freely, but their internal activities were restricted. This was a flawed and disguised approach.
Growing unease and wariness among most Malaysians over the threat of a new Chinese wave and a potential new variant that could plunge the country into another round of restrictions has been growing, forcing further assurances from the leadership. Unless the public voice grows louder, policymakers have limited options but to continue to rely on the easiest way out of the revenue platform and avoid disrupting the Apple shopping cart.
If Malaysia lacks the bold early steps taken by many other countries to appease China, it will issue another oppressive and dire move to forever cater to and at the expense of its greater independent interests and interests. Submit to the lives and interests of the Chinese people.