Spotlight falls on New Zealand’s Confucius Institutes in wake of Australian closures

Academics are calling on New Zealand universities to review their ties with Chinese government-linked Confucius Institutes after six Australian universities have closed such entities on their campuses.

Some argue the closures are linked to Canberra's concerns around foreign interference from China, although three of the universities cited the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic as the primary reason for their departure, according to a recent report by the ABC.

The first Confucius Institute was opened in South Korea in 2004, with centres opening in Europe and Australia in 2005 and beyond in subsequent years.

The centres work with Chinese and foreign institutions to provide courses on Chinese language and culture at universities and other institutions worldwide.

However, many overseas universities in Europe and the United States have severed ties with Confucius Institutes on their campuses in recent years amid concern that Beijing was using the centres to monitor Chinese international students and push favourable narratives.

Questions have also been raised about the funding sources for the centres amid geopolitical tussles between competing powers in the Asia-Pacific region.

The first Confucius Institute in New Zealand was established at the University of Auckland in 2007, followed by two more at the University of Canterbury and Victoria University of Wellington.

All three New Zealand universities told RNZ they did not plan to close the centres on their campuses.

However, retired China expert Duncan Campbell said New Zealand universities should follow Australia's suit and let their agreements with the Confucius Institutes lapse.

Campbell said the centres' Mandarin-language assistants were typically Chinese youth who were constrained in their replies when questioned on Chinese history and politics.

"But [there is] also more active engagement with promoting a particular party state idea [of] what constitutes Chinese culture," he said.

Campbell said the centres should never have been allowed to operate in the university sector, "as their aims are diametrically opposite to the free and unfettered pursuit of knowledge and the role as critic and conscience commitments that underpin university work".

"There is now an urgent necessity that the agreements in place presently are either curtailed or allowed to lapse," he said.

Campbell said New Zealand should never have outsourced the responsibility for Chinese-language education to an organ of a foreign government or party.

"I believe the teaching of Chinese language and culture and literature and philosophy ... is such an important task in this country in terms of our future that it needed to be done by our own educational institutions," he said.

Jason Young, director of the New Zealand Contemporary China Research Center at Victoria University of Wellington, said it was time for New Zealand universities to reconsider how best to use their limited resources to offer courses in Chinese language and culture.

"However wonderful the staff of the Confucius Institutes have been, ... this programme has siphoned off resources that could go into more sustainable development of Chinese language expertise at our own institutions," Young said.

"It is timely to question how we use scarce New Zealand resources to build local China expertise in New Zealand and whether [the] Confucius Institutes are most appropriately placed in universities or elsewhere."

Sociopolitical commentator Tze Ming Mok said Confucius Institutes should not be hosted or partly funded by New Zealand universities as they posed a "clear risk to academic freedom".

"Confucius Institutes exhibit creepy authoritarian compliance behaviour that has no place in New Zealand universities," she said.

Mok said New Zealand tertiary institutions should be funding independent research and teaching for Chinese language, culture and history.

"Our Asian studies programmes have been decimated in the past few years along with other humanities subjects, and universities are so underfunded that they are increasingly easy to 'buy' by funders who can push their own agenda," Mok said.

Auckland Chinese community leader Richard Leung said the Confucius Institutes' ties to the Chinese government raised concerns about academic independence.

Leung said cultural exchanges were valuable, but they must come without strings attached.

What's more, it was important for universities to protect independent thought and open debate, he said.

"There's always a risk when foreign-funded institutes operate within universities," Leung said. "Safeguards must ensure academic freedom isn't compromised.

"New Zealand universities should review their Confucius Institutes to ensure transparency and autonomy. If concerns arise, tough decisions may be needed."

Universities deny direct involvement, foreign interference

A spokesperson for the University of Auckland said the tertiary institution was supportive of the work that its Confucius Institute does in fostering people-to-people links between New Zealand and China through the medium of language and culture.

"We view the Confucius Institute in Auckland has having been an effective contributor to the NZ-China relationship since its establishment in 2007," the spokesperson said in a statement. "There are no current plans to discontinue this work."

The spokesperson said funds for its Confucius Institute were allocated through Chinese partner Fudan University in Shanghai.

The University of Auckland provided office space for the centre, as well as the secondment of an academic staff member to share a part-time role as the director of the institute as well as a part-time office coordinator in addition to other responsibilities.

"The Confucius Institute does not have any involvement in teaching or research activities within the University of Auckland," the spokesperson said.

A spokesperson from the University of Auckland's Confucius Institute provided the same information as above when contacted for comment by RNZ.

Victoria University of Wellington and the University of Canterbury said they were partly funded by their respective partner universities in China.

A spokesperson from Victoria University of Wellington said the partnership did not affect the university's autonomy or academic and intellectual freedom with respect to its research, teaching and operations.

"It also outlines that Chinese citizen working for the Institute in New Zealand shall be subject to the laws of New Zealand and Victoria University of Wellington's applicable policies," the spokesperson said in a statement.

Victoria University of Wellington's Confucius Institute said it had nothing to add to the above comments.

A University of Canterbury spokesperson said nothing had been uncovered that would cause the tertiary institution to suspect its Confucius Institute had been involved in any attempts to influence students.

"The university is not aware of any requirement for staff or volunteers to show political loyalty to any government and has not identified any evidence of foreign interference through the Institute," the spokesperson said in a statement.

RNZ sought a separate response from the University of Canterbury's Confucius Institute but received a response from the university's spokesperson, as the centre falls under the umbrella of the tertiary institution's Faculty of Arts.

"The University of Canterbury is a place of learning, discussion and free expression," the spokesperson said. "We encourage respectful dialogue while ensuring a safe environment for all.

"The presence of a Confucius Institute does not affect the University of Canterbury's commitment to academic freedom."

Minister for Universities Dr Shane Reti said New Zealand universities had a high level of autonomy in terms of their operations and management.

"New Zealand has an open and collaborative education system that welcomes international students and research collaborations, and in which academic freedom is a fundamental tenet," Reti said.

"As part of that system, New Zealand universities have entered a range of partnerships, including with Confucius Institutes," he said.

"University councils are required to ensure that proper standards of integrity, conduct and concern for the public interest and the well-being of students attending the institution are maintained."