Official says institutes are propaganda tools

An Overseas Compatriot Affairs Commission (OCAC) official said yesterday that China has established more than 200 "Confucius Institutes" in a bid to disseminate propaganda.

While these Confucius Institutes claim to promote Chinese language and culture, they are controlled by the Chinese government and aim to use education and culture to gain international influence and promote the viewpoints of the Beijing government, said an OCAC official, who declined to be identified.

The official said that China had planned to establish 100 Confucius Institutes, but had exceeded its target.

The official said that the threat posed by the institutes should not be taken lightly and that many countries, including Japan and India, were suspicious of the motivation behind the institutes.

China began making preparations for the institutions in 2002, the official said.

Other countries also have institutions to promote their language and culture, such as France's Alliance Francaise, established in 1883, and Germany's Goethe-Institut, established in 1951. But the character of these institutions is very different from that of China's Confucius Institutes, the official said.

The official said the Confucius Institute headquarters is in Beijing, but individual institutes are often managed by local universities. As a result, they don't attract the attention of the government of their host country, the official said.

Foreigners have reported that China demands any partner organization interested in opening a Confucius Institute recognize Beijing's claim to Taiwan. This influences the academic world's stance on the issue, the official said.

The only thing Taiwan can do to counter this development is to call on the international community to be watchful, the official said.