MALAITA Province whose provincial leaderships is resisting China’s investments in the province tops Chinese Government fully-funded scholarships in universities right across China, official figures show.
Overall, there are 103 Solomon Islands students studying in various universities across China, fully paid for by the Government of China.
Of this number, some 93 students are doing their Bachelor’s degree program, nine (9) are doing their Masters and one (1) PhD program, according to the official figures provided by the Solomon Islands Embassy in Beijing.
China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs has also confirmed the figures.
But when the intakes are taken on a province-by-province basis, students from Malaita Province topped the number of Solomon Islands’ students studying in China in terms of number.
Malaita Province has 53 students studying in China on fully-funded Chinese scholarships, according to the official figures.
At 11 students, Western Province is on second place and Choiseul and Guadalcanal Provinces are on third place at 10 students each. Placings of Provinces in terms of their students studying in China on fully-funded scholarships are shown in the chart below.
ONE of the issues repeatedly put to China as far back as 2004 was the future of Solomon Islands’ students studying in Taiwan at the time.
Would China be prepared to absorb these students in terms of costs in the event Solomon Islands and the People’s Republic of China (PRC) tie the diplomatic knot, I asked at a dinner with former Chinese diplomats in Beijing.
The dinner was hosted in honor of our visit (Simeon Bouro, now our honored Ambassador to Cuba) and I to China that year.
Although the Ambassadors were non-committal at the time, it appeared they took the matter seriously. And so, when in September 2019, Solomon Islands and PRC announced establishing formal relations, the scholarship for Solomon Islands’ students studying in Taiwan featured high on the agenda.
By Alfred Sasako
