Confucius institutes in UK universities ‘are part of China’s external propaganda schemes’, says senior journalist

The nuance of asserting ‘soft power’ by establishing Confucius Institutions (CIs) in the United Kingdom distinguishes its political mission from language and cultural schooling, wrote the journalist in Asian Lite.

Confucius Institutes were administered by Hanban, an abbreviation of the Office of the Leading Small Group (LSG) for the International Promotion of the Chinese Language.

Confucius Institute Headquarters Council (CIHQ Council) in 2009. The LSG/CIHQ was chaired by two successive former United Front Work Department (UFWD) heads turned vice premiers; Liu Yandong and then Sun Chulan.

The UK Universities such as UCL, LSBU, Nottingham, Southampton, Ulster, Leeds, Goldsmiths, Edge Hill, Coventry and more have been flagged as outliers for not reporting actual data on how their Confucius Institutions have been funded. There are huge amounts of ‘missing’ funding that range from £9,859,381 to £12,966,014, wrote the journalist.

UK PM Rishi Sunak earlier said he would shut down Confucius Institutions (CIs) if he was elected as the Prime Minister of the country.

On July 25, he tweeted: "I would close all 30 of China’s Confucius Institutes in the UK - the highest number in the world. Almost all UK government spending on Mandarin language teaching at school is channelled through university-based Confucius Institutes, thereby promoting Chinese soft power."