China's Confucius Institutes are teaching more than Mandarin abroad

On the face of it, these institutes just teach Mandarin but in actuality, they also organize cultural activities in the host nations to create a positive image about China.

Do you know communist China is spreading its influence not only in the politics and business of the contemporary world but also in academia abroad? Its main tool to do so is China's Confucius Institutes the world over.

Knowledgeable sources say China has established over 550 CIs and 1,172 Confucius Classrooms (CCs) in 162 countries. In the United States, Beijing has funded such institutes at leading US colleges and universities since 2005. By 2020, it came to establish more than 118 Confucius institutes in the United States.

On the face of it, these institutes just teach Mandarin, a language useful for business in the contemporary world. But in actuality, they also organize cultural activities in the host nations to create a positive image about China. It is no secret that communist China today suppresses its people throughout the county-- in Tibet, Xinjiang and Hong Kong, in particular. The Confucius institutes allow no discussion on what China does in contravention of the established principles of human rights.

There have thus been concerns over the activities of the CIs in many nations, including the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Denmark, the Netherlands, Belgium, and Sweden.The previous Donald J Trump administration in Washington did try to roll back the influence of these institutes in the United States. Former Secretary of State Michael Pompeo flagged Confucius Institutes as "part of the Chinese Communist Party's global influence and propaganda apparatus."

During the Trump presidency, the US State Department warned college and university governing boards that Confucius Institutes "exert malign influence on US campuses and disseminate CCP propaganda." In 2018, then Director of US Federal Bureau of Investigation Chris Wray told the US Senate that China used this "academic setting" to engage in espionage against the United States.

However, the Confucius institutes still flourish the world over. In the United States, some universities did, officially at least, shutter them. But not a single one of them has really disappeared from the scene. The Confucius Institutes have been just re-branded under a "sister university" arrangement with universities in China and given a different name.

The sources say India has done well to keep a close watch on the Confucius institutes operating in the country . Presently, there are two Confucius Institutes in India. One of them is at the University of Mumbai. Another is at the Vellore Institute of Technology. These institutes offer language courses in Chinese Mandarin and organise cultural activities.

In 2022, the Ministry of Education initiated a review of all collaborations between Confucius centres and Indian institutes. Now, all educational institutes, which collaborate with China's Confucius centres, in India are required to obtain Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act clearances and the Ministry of External Affairs approval. Given China's continuing dangerous pattern of behaviour towards India, New Delhi does need to remain cautious.

(Jagdish N. Singh is a senior journalist based in New Delhi. He is also Senior Distinguished Fellow at the Gatestone Institute, New York)

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