More and more universities across the U.S. are cutting ties with Chinese-backed Confucius Institutes, following increased scrutiny toward the institutes and those that have partnered with them.
As universities across the country face cut-backs to its language programs, these Chinese-funded institutes have become a tempting resource. However, Confucius Institutes have been accused of leveraging their position on campuses across the country to censor subjects sensitive to Chinese interests.
ASU should hold itself to a higher standard and do what others in the international community have failed to do. The University should hold China accountable by rejecting the Confucius Institute on campus.
The University should follow the lead of other universities such as the University of Chicago and Pennsylvania State and close its on-campus Confucius Institute. In 2014, the University of Chicago ended its partnership with the Confucius Institute following a breakdown in renegotiating the Institute's contract.
A keynote speaker at Savannah State University had mentions of Taiwan removed from her bio at the request of the co-director of the university's Confucius Institute. In 2009, a visit from the Dalai Lama, the Tibetan spiritual leader, to North Carolina State University was canceled at the Institute's request.
Additionally, ASU faced scrutiny following comments made by former Congressman Matt Salmon in which he mistakenly claimed that Pentagon dollars were being invested into the Confucius Institute, as reported on in December by the State Press.
By allowing a Confucius Institute to operate on campus, the University is allowing itself to be used as a pawn in a larger geopolitical strategy being waged by China, a country with an egregious and active record of human rights violations, such as state censorship and oppression of religious minorities and dissidents.
Officially, the Confucius Institutes serve a seemingly innocuous goal: the promotion of Chinese language and culture. The institute offers a selection of resources such as classes and workshops for ASU students and holds cultural events.
In addition, it has a series of partnerships with local Arizona high schools to offer “Chinese language and culture programs."
While seemingly harmless, this must be taken into consideration alongside the broader goals of the Chinese government in the promotion of Confucius Institutes worldwide. The Confucius Institutes are run by a division of the Chinese Ministry of Education known as the Hanban.
On the Hanban’s executive board sit leading members of the Chinese Communist Party, including members of the Chinese government’s foreign affairs and propaganda ministries.
It is clear that while the Confucius Institute at ASU may not engage in some of the more egregious conduct that has sparked controversy at other universities, they're still involved with a country that deprives its citizens of human rights.
Michael Hechter, an ASU Foundation professor at the School of Politics and Global Studies, said, “They don’t say a word about China. The human rights violations in China are far worse than they are in the West Bank. Absolutely far worse and affect far more people. So the silence about it in the press seems to be highly questionable.”
Regardless of the goals of the Confucius Institute at ASU, the broader aims of the Hanban and the Confucius Institute program worldwide must be considered.
According to a Politico article, Li Changchun, a standing member of the Chinese Politburo, claimed in a 2011 speech that Confucius Institutes had made "an important contribution toward improving our soft power."
The larger goal of the Confucius Institute is the expansion of Chinese soft power and influence abroad. This is a nation that, according to the U.N., currently holds one million of its Uighur and Muslim citizens in internment camps in the name of combatting "religious extremism."
“The Chinese state doubled down on direct rule by essentially starting the concentration camps for the Muslims. And that’s where the story is now,” Hechter said. “It’s the greatest human rights violation in the world right now and one that gets very little attention for reasons that are not exactly clear to me.”
While China continues to deprive the rights of its citizens, ASU should not risk putting itself into similar situations that other universities have faced.
Reach the columnist at djrubio2@asu.edu and follow @DanielRubioAZ on Twitter.
Editor’s note: The opinions presented in this column are the authors’ and do not imply any endorsement from The State Press or its editors.
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