Empowering Futures: Malaysia-China GDI collaboration for human capital growth

By Dr. Wong Mei Foong.

Malaysia and China have established a strategic partnership to enhance human capital development through the Global Development Initiative (GDI). This innovative alliance is set to accelerate advancements in key areas such as healthcare, education, and productivity, signalling a new era of international collaboration aimed at unlocking the full potential of human capital on a global scale.

The World Bank’s Human Capital Index (HCI) is crucial for predicting a nation’s future productivity. Through the GDI collaboration, both countries seek to raise the HCI by prioritising advancements in health, education, and survival rates in line with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the World Bank Human Capital Project for human capital growth.

Both countries have made significant healthcare investments. For instance, the China National Health Commission reports that the number of hospitals has expanded to 39,000 in 2023, a remarkable expansion from 36,976 in 2022. Meanwhile, according to the Health Ministry, there will be 146 government hospitals and 212 private licensed hospitals in Malaysia in 2024. Malaysia’s healthcare system will continue to undergo reforms to enhance outcomes and quality, necessitating ongoing monitoring and governance. By exchanging best practices, both nations can increase their health index and achieve long-term improvements.

The GDI partnership also promotes dynamic and resilient education through digital literacy and skills improvement initiatives such as the World Vocational and Technical Education Development Conference, International Advocacy for Prioritising Youth Development, the World Digital Education Alliance, and the Global Knowledge Network for Development.

Aside from that, addressing poverty, labour mismatches, and the ageing population is crucial to human capital development. Poverty inhibits access to school and healthcare, which impedes skill development. Workforce mismatches cause inefficiencies, poor production, and difficulty in filling job vacancies. To enable lifelong learning and employment involvement, ageing concerns necessitate the adaptation of education and health policies.

Solving these issues encourages individual knowledge, skills, and health growth, thereby increasing human capital for sustainable economic development.

The World Health Organisation alerts to significant malnutrition risks for women, infants, children, and adolescents. To address these challenges, governments prioritise mother and child health by investing resources and increasing awareness. Malaysia and China are focusing on nutrition and healthcare programmes to ensure a healthier future. Under the GDI, China implements projects for vulnerable children worldwide, such as healthcare packages, education, nutrition, and sanitation improvements. China also works on food assistance and Covid-19 programmes, committing US$50mil to the China-FAO South-South Collaboration Trust Fund to support global poverty reduction and food security efforts.

Furthermore, in Malaysia, women’s labour force participation has risen from 55.2% in 2020 to 56.2% in 2023, as reported by the Statistics Department Malaysia. According to the

World Bank, China has the highest global rate of women’s labour force participation, with women making up 60.5% of the workforce in 2023. This GDI collaboration aims to build on these advancements through policy reforms and enhanced educational opportunities to ensure women’s full economic integration, which is critical for improving human capital and productivity.

Malaysia’s minimum monthly income is RM1,500, whereas China’s is RMB2,590. When converted directly to the currency rate, the nominal minimum monthly incomes in Malaysia and China appear to be comparable. Both governments use upskilling and productivity-improvement approaches to raise workers’ living standards, which may eventually lead to greater salaries. Addressing issues such as declining learning cultures and education-industry mismatches are critical for long-term wage development through the GDI collaboration.

Moreover, the ageing populations in Malaysia and China pose significant challenges that require forward-thinking strategies to mitigate potential economic and social impacts.

According to the World Bank, projections indicate that over 15% of Malaysia’s population and 38.81% of China’s population will be above 65 by 2050. This demographic shift carries wide-ranging implications, such as increased healthcare costs, declining workforce participation, and impacts on economic development.

In response to these challenges, China’s GDI has the potential to offer indirect benefits to the ageing population by fostering economic growth and creating new employment opportunities. The Global Clean Energy Cooperation Partnership, a prime example within the GDI framework, focuses on increasing investments in clean energy. This not only aims to propel economic recovery and growth but also emphasises strengthening cooperation in platform building, aligning standards, and cultivating talent to further the energy transition.

In synergy with these efforts, Malaysia is pursuing ambitious investment targets, aiming to attract up to RM1.3 trillion to generate 310,000 green jobs by 2050. This complements China’s status as the world’s leading producer of renewable energy, which also contributes to the global green job market with over four million positions.

These strategies do not merely address the immediate challenges; they also capitalise on the untapped potential within the ageing population. We expect Malaysia and China to effectively leverage the knowledge and experience of older individuals, a valuable asset for both economic growth and social cohesion, by allowing them to continue contributing to the workforce. This approach reflects a broader vision of the GDI, which seeks to ensure that sustainable development is inclusive, harnessing the full spectrum of human resources across generational lines for the collective prosperity of the global community.

To sum up, the Malaysia-China collaboration is a real-world implementation of the GDI, which stresses the importance of international cooperation in achieving sustainable development. By leveraging each other’s strengths and focusing on measurable outcomes, these nations are making significant strides in human capital development.

Dr. Wong Mei Foong is an Associate Professor at Tunku Abdul Rahman University of Management and Technology (TAR UMT).

The views expressed here are entirely the writer’s own.

The SEARCH Scholar Series is a social responsibility programme jointly organised by the Southeast Asia Research Centre for Humanities (SEARCH) and Tunku Abdul Rahman University of Management and Technology (TAR UMT), in conjunction with the 10-year anniversary of the Belt and Road Initiative.