University professors in the US have joined their Canadian counterparts in urging universities to cut ties with Confucius Institutes unless the agreements that bring them to campus are re-worked to guarantee academic freedom.
A report by the American Association of University Professors (AAUP) said universities “have sacrificed the integrity of the university and its academic staff” by allowing the Chinese government to supervise curriculum and staff at the institutes it has established on more than 100 North American campuses to promote Chinese culture and language.
“Allowing any third-party control of academic matters is inconsistent with principles of academic freedom, shared governance, and the institutional autonomy of colleges and universities,” the report by the association’s Committee on Academic Freedom and Tenure said.
The Canadian Association of University Teachers raised the same issues in December last year following an instructor’s human rights complaint alleging discrimination based on her belief in Falun Gong, a movement that has been banned in China.
The complaint led McMaster University in Ontario to close its Confucius Institute last year after the complaint was settled through mediation.
The Beijing headquarters for the Confucius Institutes, the Office of Chinese Language Council International, known as Hanban, did not respond to requests for comment.
However, the People’s Daily ran an article on Friday last week seeking to refute the report’s claims, quoting representatives from foreign institutions from Germany to Thailand who called them unfounded.
Directors at several Confucius Institutes in the US also defended the institutes, saying the AAUP does not understand how they work.
“The university comes first, and then the Confucius Institute, which must operate within the rules of the university,” said Xu Zaocheng (徐造成), director of the institute at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis.
“It is true that it is a program under the Chinese Ministry of Education, but the accusations reflect the Cold War mentality,” Xu said.
The Chinese “fund these activities, but they are not controlling them,” said Stephen Dunnett, chairman of the binational committee that oversees the University at Buffalo’s five-year-old institute.
“If they came here and said we will give you this money, but we’re going to control it: We’re going to pick the curriculum, we’re going to pick the teachers by ourselves, and we’re going to teach or not teach what we want... What US university would ever do that?” he said.
With more than 400 already now spread across more than 100 regions and countries, China expects to have 500 Confucius Institutes by next year, program officials have said, along with 1,000 Confucius classrooms in primary and secondary schools.
The AAUP recommended universities cut ties unless agreements with Hanban are rewritten to give the universities unilateral control over teachers, curriculum and texts, and Confucius Institute teachers the same academic freedoms as other university faculty.
ROLLER-COASTER RIDE: More than five earthquakes ranging from magnitude 4.4 to 5.5 on the Richter scale shook eastern Taiwan in rapid succession yesterday afternoon Back-to-back weather fronts are forecast to hit Taiwan this week, resulting in rain across the nation in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration said yesterday, as it also warned residents in mountainous regions to be wary of landslides and rockfalls. As the first front approached, sporadic rainfall began in central and northern parts of Taiwan yesterday, the agency said, adding that rain is forecast to intensify in those regions today, while brief showers would also affect other parts of the nation. A second weather system is forecast to arrive on Thursday, bringing additional rain to the whole nation until Sunday, it
CONDITIONAL: The PRC imposes secret requirements that the funding it provides cannot be spent in states with diplomatic relations with Taiwan, Emma Reilly said China has been bribing UN officials to obtain “special benefits” and to block funding from countries that have diplomatic ties with Taiwan, a former UN employee told the British House of Commons on Tuesday. At a House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee hearing into “international relations within the multilateral system,” former Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) employee Emma Reilly said in a written statement that “Beijing paid bribes to the two successive Presidents of the [UN] General Assembly” during the two-year negotiation of the Sustainable Development Goals. Another way China exercises influence within the UN Secretariat is
LANDSLIDES POSSIBLE: The agency advised the public to avoid visiting mountainous regions due to more expected aftershocks and rainfall from a series of weather fronts A series of earthquakes over the past few days were likely aftershocks of the April 3 earthquake in Hualien County, with further aftershocks to be expected for up to a year, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Based on the nation’s experience after the quake on Sept. 21, 1999, more aftershocks are possible over the next six months to a year, the agency said. A total of 103 earthquakes of magnitude 4 on the local magnitude scale or higher hit Hualien County from 5:08pm on Monday to 10:27am yesterday, with 27 of them exceeding magnitude 5. They included two, of magnitude
Taiwan’s first drag queen to compete on the internationally acclaimed RuPaul’s Drag Race, Nymphia Wind (妮妃雅), was on Friday crowned the “Next Drag Superstar.” Dressed in a sparkling banana dress, Nymphia Wind swept onto the stage for the final, and stole the show. “Taiwan this is for you,” she said right after show host RuPaul announced her as the winner. “To those who feel like they don’t belong, just remember to live fearlessly and to live their truth,” she said on stage. One of the frontrunners for the past 15 episodes, the 28-year-old breezed through to the final after weeks of showcasing her unique