Beijing Funded "Confucius Institutes" in Canadian Schools & Aussie Uni's

China provides & funds Teachers from China (in Elementary classrooms)
Books are provided… all Free
Canadian [& NSW?] students get to learn Chinese & Chinese Culture
Students may be invited to visit China?

BUT…

There are restrictions on topics kids can ask
There's No "Try B4 You Accept Contract Terms"
Cancelling a program before it ends COSTS $$

Fact-check, eg, here:

Use app "CBC Radio" to access these programs/segments:

Show: "The Current" program (12 Apr 2019):

  • "Beijing-funded classes on China for Canadian kids
    is a lesson in Propaganda: expert"

Show: "Info. Morning - Fredericton" program (28 Mar 2019):

  • "Should the CONFUCIUS INSTITUTE be in New Brunswick classrooms?"

Show: "Shift - NB" program (27 Mar 2019):

  • "Cardy criticizing the CONFUCIUS INSTITUTE"

Show: Info. Morning - Moncton" program (22 Feb 2019):

  • "End of CONFUCIUS INSTITUTE program"

http://ChinaMatters.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/China-…


In AU, most CONFUCIUS INSTITUTES seem to be at uni level:

  • Queensland. Queensland University of Technology. Griffith University. …
  • New South Wales. University of New South Wales. University of Newcastle. …
  • Northern Territory. Charles Darwin University.
  • South Australia. University of Adelaide.
  • Victoria. La Trobe University. RMIT. …
  • Western Australia. University of Western Australia

Excerpt from a report on SBS's site, under"

"Australian Confucius Classrooms under question as contract revealed"
(I still haven't found a Contract; SBS's page "Read more" are dead..)

"Western concerns grow

Australia has the third highest number of Confucius Institutes and Confucius Classrooms after the US and UK. The first Confucius Institute opened in Seoul in 2004 and Beijing has poured billions of dollars into their expansion. There are now about 525 in 146 countries around the world, offering language programs and cultural exchanges.

Defenders say they are non-profit public institutions promoting intercultural understanding akin to Germany’s Goethe Institut or France’s Alliance Francaise.

The University of Sydney's institute was established in 2008 and offers non-award Mandarin courses through the university's Centre for Continuing Education. Its director Xing Jin told SBS News the university had oversight over the curriculum and had several senior university academics on its board.

But the institutes have drawn increasing criticism in recent years. About eight universities in the US and Europe have closed the institutes on their campuses amid concerns they are designed to leverage Beijing’s political agenda in western countries and stifle opposing views on issues like Tibet and Taiwan.

While hard evidence of problems around Confucius Institutes has been thin, in February the US FBI director told a Senate inquiry the agency was investigating dozens of US Confucius Institutes over concerns they are part of covert spying and influence operations.

And in March, the UK’s Conservative Party Human Rights Commission launched an inquiry into the UK’s Confucius Institutes.

The Chinese embassy in Canberra did not respond to a request for comment."


A book or report on the topic (187 pp):

Comments

  • +9

    May I be the first to say Please, not again.

    • Is this the guy that writes long winded nonsense with random capitalisation? If so he has improved a little at least (fewer words capitalised and makes at least a modicum of sense and is possible to follow).

  • +3

    How does this deliver me an OzBargain?

    • Free confusion?

  • +4

    Unlike western politics whose cronies can't fathom anything past their current term, China plays the long game so anyone who thinks such initiatives aren't there solely for the benefit the PRC are idiots..

    But such discussions have nothing to do with OzB…

  • Trying to revision the smelly finger proverb.

  • +1

    Free to join, pay to leave.

    Anything with that sign up model = BAD decision.

  • +2

    apart from this kind of post having nothing to do with bargains…

    how is this a problem, but school chaplaincy and religious (christian) education in state schools is ok? Seems a bit hypocritical to me.

  • -5

    Did they also fund that unnecessary apostrophe in your title?

    • +1

      Apostrophes can denote missing letters, too. Uni's can be short for universities. You overreached.

  • The Confucius Institute sent me on a short exchange to China, and provided me with some intensive Chinese language lessons. They asked for nothing in return, except to be a good ambassador for Australia and my university. While in Beijing, we spent time at Peking University, and the students and teachers there were wonderful, and accepted that there were issues in China - they also talked about how they worked around these. They were very enlightened people and I am so grateful that I got the opportunity to be part of the program.

  • +2

    You can watch the 4 Corners episode from Monday week past, on iview, if any further confirmation of various skullduggery at play, required.

  • +1

    This bloke gotta be trolling?

  • Go to learn, if you want to drop out and waste resources do something else.

    Don't think when you drop out of TAFE that it doesn't cost us taxpayers.

    Idiots.

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