Indian government to review China's Confucius institutes

Earlier this week, the Indian government put Chinese institutes under a review that outraged Beijing. Two things are being reviewed.

First, the local chapters of Confucius institutes in India.

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Second, agreements between Indian and Chinese institutes.

According to China, India is politicizing Chinese institutes. They feel the review is unfair.

But, here is why it's necessary.

China’s meddling in education is seen as a threat to academic freedom abroad.

A report from human rights watch came out last year. The report calls Confucius institutes as extensions of the Chinese government.

Where censorship is rampant and hiring of teachers is based on political loyalty. China has opened up several of these institutes abroad.

According to human rights watch, many teachers feel uncomfortable with the presence of such schools on their campus. They feel their teaching could be compromised by them. At certain places --- the Chinese influence is quite apparent.

In 2019, Victoria University cancelled the screening of a documentary critical of Confucius institutes after the university’s Confucius institute complained.

The screening was cancelled because it was critical of Chinese institutes.

According to reports, India has three such institutes. All of them are essentially extensions of the Chinese government.

Reportedly, Indian intelligence agencies have raised security concerned around Chinese institutes. China says its schools promote Chinese language teaching and people-to-people contacts.

But, there are three “Ts” that teachers can’t talk about.

Tibet

Taiwan

Tiananmen

At any Chinese schools in the world, these three subjects are considered off-limits.

Allegedly, Chinese schools have often put pressure on their host universities abroad. They proactively pressurize host universities to silence anything deemed controversial by Beijing.

In 2014, references of Taiwan were removed from a conference programme in Portugal. Pages were torn from the handbook.

In 2018, China played censor at a conference in the United States too. Bethany Allen-Ebrahimian, a journalist, was invited to speak at the savannah state university.

On her bio, Allen had mentioned she had reported from Taiwan. But, when the event materials were printed --- the reference to Taiwan was removed. Because the event sponsor was a Chinese institute.

China funds schools in the name of culture and people-to-people ties. Then, it imposes censorship on campus.

The entire operation is orchestrated from Beijing by the communist party.

Chinese institutes are run by the Hanban. This is a Chinese body. That’s part of China’s ministry of education. The Hanban is dominated by officials of the communist party.

The executive council of the Hanban has 12 representatives from China’s top state agencies. This includes the ministry of foreign affairs as well as the state press and publishing administration.

The director-general of Hanban is part of China’s state council. The highest organ of state power in China.

By 2017, these institutes had a budget of 314 million dollars.

Reportedly, Chinese institutes are now present in at least 548 universities. In almost 1,200 schools and across 154 countries now.

More than one million students study in these institutes and over 46,000 teachers work there.

As of last year, China planned to have one thousand such institutes.