Chinese Whispers: should Confucius Institutes be shut down?

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🗓️ 9 January 2023

⏱️ 30 minutes

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Summary

Should Confucius Institutes be shut down? There are hundreds of these centres across six continents, funded by the Ministry of Education, with the stated goal of public education on and cultural promotion of China. They offer classes on language, history and culture of China, and some would say they help to plug a crucial shortage of Chinese language skills in host countries, especially across the West.

And yet, these have become deeply controversial. Criticism of the institutes range from their CCP-sanctioned curriculum which do not include sensitive topics, to allegations of espionage and erosion of academic independence with Confucius Institutes as the core. Sweden closed all of its CIs two years ago, and universities in countries including the US and Japan have also shut their centres down.

This is a live debate in the UK right now. Last November, security minister Tom Tugendhat confirmed that the government would be seeking to ban Confucius Institutes in the UK, repeating a pledge that Rishi Sunak had made during the Tory leadership race. But is this the right decision?

In this episode, Cindy is joined by Charles Parton, senior associate fellow at the thinktank RUSI, who worked in or around China as a diplomat for two decades. He is an expert on Chinese interference and espionage in the UK.

My interview with Raffaello Pantucci on how Confucius Institutes play a role in central Asia: https://www.spectator.co.uk/podcast/the-new-great-game-how-china-replaced-russia-in-kazakhstan-and-beyond/.

Transcript

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0:00.0	The Spectator magazine combines incisive political analysis with books and arts reviews of unrivaled authority. Absolutely free. Go to spectator.com.uk forward slash voucher.
0:31.4	Hello and welcome to Chinese Whispers with me, Cindy Yu. Every episode, I'll be talking to
0:36.3	journalists, experts and long-time China watchers about the latest in Chinese politics, society and more.
0:42.7	There'll be a smattering of history to catch you up on the background knowledge and some context as well.
0:47.4	How do the Chinese see these issues?
0:50.8	Should Confucius institutes be shut down?
0:54.0	There are hundreds of these centres across six continents,
0:56.6	funded by the Chinese Ministry of Education, with a stated goal of public education on and cultural
1:02.5	promotion of China. They offered classes on language and history, and some would say that they
1:07.8	help to plug a crucial shortage of Chinese language skills in host countries, especially in the West.
1:13.6	And yet these have become deeply controversial.
1:16.6	Criticism of the institutes range from their CCP sanctioned curriculum, which do not include sensitive topics,
1:22.6	to allegations of espionage and erosion of academic independence with Confucius institutes at the call.
1:28.9	Sweden closed all of its CIs two years ago, and universities in countries, including the US and
1:34.0	Japan, have also shut their centres down. This is a live debate in the UK right now. Last November
1:39.4	security minister Tom Tukenha confirmed that the government would be seeking to ban Confucius
1:43.8	institutes in the UK, repeating a pledge that Rishi Sunak had made during the Tory leadership race.
1:49.4	But it's this right decision when the UK also suffers from a shortage of Chinese language
1:53.8	skills and understanding of China. In this episode, I'm joined by Charles Parton, senior
1:58.9	associate fellow at the think Tank Roussi,
2:05.9	who worked in or around China as a diplomat for two decades. He is an expert on Chinese interference and espionage in the UK. Charlie, welcome to Chinese Whispers. Can we start by talking about
2:11.1	what Confucius Institutes are meant to be doing on the tin according to the Chinese side?
	...

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