By Celeste Fong 

BEIJING, CHINA: A move is being made to get one of the top three universities in China to set up a branch campus in Malaysia, said MCA president Datuk Seri Ong Tee Keat.

He said a similar effort was also being made to court the top three universities in Hong Kong.

Ong added that the move was made by certain parties in the private sector as part of the plan to boost Johor's development region of Iskandar Malaysia.

"There has never been such a precedent (for China to set up a branch campus abroad).

"The suggestion is significantly meaningful. The relevant parties are laying the groundwork for this," he added.

Ong was speaking at a press conference after paying a courtesy call on Wang Jiarui, the head of the International Department of the Communist Party of China Central Committee yesterday.

Ong is leading a high-powered

government and private delegation, which includes heavyweights like former finance minister Tun Daim Zainuddin and prominent businessman Tan Sri Syed Mokhtar Shah Syed Nor Al-Bukhary, on a six-day visit to China.

Ong said the setting up of branch campuses could only be done at Malaysia's invitation.

Reliable source said Syed Mokhtar would be one of the major players in luring the Chinese universities to Johor.

Other foreign universities with branches in Malaysia are Australia's Monash University in Petaling Jaya, Curtin University of Technology in Miri and Britain's Nottingham University in Semenyih.

Newcastle University recently accepted an invitation to set up a campus in Iskandar Malaysia.