Cross-party lawmakers from the United Kingdom (UK) are in talks with Taiwan to provide Chinese-language teachers as the British government looks to phase out Chinese government-linked Confucius Institutes.
For several years now, Confucius Institutes have been set up across the world to teach the Chinese language, culture, and business etiquette to foreigners. The schools are joint ventures between a host university, a partner university in China, and the Chinese International Education Foundation, a Beijing-based organisation. There are currently 30 branches of the institute across the UK.
While the learning institutes had been positively received by British authorities until recently, their future in the country seems uncertain, as new Prime Minister (PM) Liz Truss has taken an increasingly harsh stance against China, bringing the language learning and teaching project under heavy scrutiny.
“Until recently, the Beijing-backed programme was viewed positively by the Conservative government. As education minister in 2014, Liz Truss praised the network of Confucius classrooms, saying they “will put in place a strong infrastructure for Mandarin” in the UK.”
— William Yang (@WilliamYang120) September 18, 2022
Against the backdrop of deteriorating bilateral relations between China and the UK, campaigners have begun to question the funding and recruitment process of the Chinese language teaching initiative, calling the UK’s approach to Chinese-language teaching “outdated.” A study conducted by the China Research Group in June showed that almost all of London’s spending on Chinese-language teaching from 2015 to 2024 was channelled through university-based Confucius Institutes, which amounted to at least £7 million (US$8.1 million).
However, the new proposal would allow the funding to be redirected to alternative programs such as those from Taiwan.
The initiative comes after British lawmaker Alicia Kearns urged Taiwan last month to play a more significant role in teaching Mandarin in the UK and enhance public understanding of the self-governing island, as the UK government has become increasingly distrustful of the Chinese Communist Party. The Conservative Party lawmaker expressed hope that Taipei “comes proactively to the British government” to offer to help UK citizens improve their Mandarin.
2/ I would close all 30 of China’s Confucius Institutes in the UK - the highest number in the world.
— Rishi Sunak (@RishiSunak) July 25, 2022
Almost all UK government spending on Mandarin language teaching at school is channelled through university-based Confucius Institutes, thereby promoting Chinese soft power. pic.twitter.com/RAWf0WsKRS
Kearns, a member of the British House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee, also went a step ahead by proposing an amendment to the Higher Education Bill that would allow the government to shut down the controversial institutes at British universities, as concerns over academic freedom continue to rise.
The lawmaker argued that, as things stand, if Britons want to learn Mandarin at university or school, they can only go to a Confucius Institute; however, Confucius Institutes “do not teach accurate history” and are controlled by the Chinese state. “That needs to end,” she underscored.
As education minister in 2014, Liz Truss praised the network of schools for “[putting] in place a strong infrastructure for Mandarin” in the UK. In fact, Former British Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak, whom Truss defeated to replace Boris Johnson as PM, has previously criticised Truss in this regard, saying nine of the 31 Confucius institutes in the country were established when she was the education minister between 2012 and 2014. During his campaign, Sunak went as far as to say that if elected, he would shut down all 30 Confucius Institutes in the UK, which he said “promote Chinese soft power.”