Countries tighten grip over China's Confucius Institutes over propaganda concerns: Report

In a major setback for China, several countries, including the United States, Germany, and the Netherlands, have started tightening their grip over the country's controversial Confucius Institutes (CIs) that have been accused of spreading propaganda, ANI reported. Confucius Institutes are public educational partnerships between colleges and universities in China and colleges and universities in other countries. Since its establishment, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has been funding the institutes and has been accused of trying to spread its propaganda through dubious classrooms.

It is worth mentioning that the closure of Confucius Institutes in various countries has advanced rapidly as these organisations, run by the Chinese Communist Party, are deemed as China's ideological marketing machine. Earlier in a report - 'China's Influence Actions' - published, last year, the French Defence Ministry had noted that the Chinese Communist government has been boosting United Front (UF) tactics overseas. The report alleged the Xi Jinping-led government of promoting its doctrine through Confucius Institutes. The UF is a political strategy of the CCP involving networks of groups and key individuals that are influenced or controlled by the CCP and used to advance its interests.

China reorganised Confucius Institutes under a new organisation: UF report

The French Defence Ministry's report highlighted how the CCP has influenced the global institutes through media, diplomacy, economy, politics, education, culture, and think tanks. "Since 2004, the Chinese government has sponsored Confucius Institutes on college and university campuses around the world, providing teachers, textbooks, and operating funds. Until recently, an agency of the Chinese Ministry of Education, the Hanban, oversaw Confucius Institutes," according to the 'China's Influence Actions' report.

"In the wake of widespread criticism, the Chinese government has reorganised Confucius Institutes under a new organisation, the Chinese International Education Foundation. In April 2017, the National Association of Scholars (NSA) released Outsourced to China: Confucius Institutes and Soft Power in American Higher Education, a comprehensive report on the way the Chinese government infiltrates American colleges and universities to enhance its image," the report stated. "At that time, we counted 103 Confucius Institutes in the United States," the NSA informed.

(With inputs from ANI, Image: AP/Pixabay)