+3 votes
154 views
in Education ✍ by

The political correctness that pervades many American campuses is bad enough.  But many colleges and universities are also hosting Confucius Institutes, funded by China, and which, according to critics, are hotbeds of Chinese political propaganda.

https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2018/01/16/how-china-infiltrated-us-classrooms-216327

4 Answers

+3 votes
by

I found this in the article, O'Tink... "...disturbing trend in American higher education: an alarming willingness to accept money at the expense of principles that universities are ostensibly devoted to upholding."

And this: "It seems that Beijing probed, and found a weakness: money. It may be intellectually indefensible for universities to host Confucius Institutes, but at a time of reduced funding, it makes eminent sense."

I don't know anything about this magazine, but based on my own life experience within the past few years I don't believe we can discount this possibility. It is especially distasteful that the name of Confucius is used to invoke trust and authority.

by

Virginia, I looked up Politico, and it seems to be more or less centrist, having about as many Democratic as Republican subscribers.  It also seems to draw roughly equal amounts of criticism for its articles from the Left as from the Right.

And yes, there is reason for concern about China: it combines the worst of corporatism with one-party dictatorship.

by

Well O'Tink, I appreciate learning about the Confucius Institutes; perhaps one of the benefits of the Internet, learning from others about such potentially shady invasions!

* * *

In retrospect, I was not at all satisfied with the public education I had access to, including the college/university level. Except, perhaps, I learned how to criticize my education and then go after the information I myself judged good quality.

by

Well, Virginia, it was indeed not a complete failure if you came out with critical thinking skills.

by

The development of critical thinking seems to be a life-long process, O'Tink...I still keep catching myself out!

by

Well, Virginia, I think that applies to all of us, except the ideologues of course, who never question the Party Line.

+3 votes
by

I can add some more sources, but I can't find enough information, so, I'll start with a more general document:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Criticism_of_Confucius_Institutes


https://www.forbes.com/sites/anderscorr/2017/06/28/chinese-informants-in-the-classroom-pedagogical-strategies/#4cb0c4ce12da

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/dec/08/confucious-institute-in-nsw-education-department-unacceptable-analyst

http://www.asianews.it/news-en/Confucius-institutes-as-Trojan-horses-for-Chinese-hegemony-25322.html

https://www.nytimes.com/2015/02/10/world/asia/china-tells-schools-to-suppress-western-ideas-with-one-big-exception.html

http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-33735517


They talk since a certain time about the "sell-out of American higher education", but the same occurs also in many other parts of the world, and with that, whole education systems and their financing are put into question.

https://www.huffingtonpost.com/michael-bastedo-phd/is-higher-education-more-_b_921036.html

https://fee.org/articles/selling-higher-education-is-sleazier-than-selling-a-used-car/


by

Marianne, I opened the Guardian article because my computer can handle that site; and this is what I saw, the concern that there is now a Confucius Institute embedded in the government of New South Wales in Australia!

"A former senior intelligence analyst for the Australian government is calling for an urgent review of an arrangement whereby a Chinese government-affiliated entity is embedded inside a state government department."

by

Yes, Virginia, and there seems to be also concern in other domains, namely in big business, sports, charity, etc.





by

@ Marianne: all good articles, and it seems to be no secret what the purpose of these "institutes" is.  But the local officials accept them, as long as the price is right.

"When the time comes to hang the capitalists, a capitalist will sell us the rope."

by

Lol, well said, T(h)ink!

:silly::)

by

O'Tink I suppose that is not really funny but I could not help I laughed and laughed!

by

Me neither, Virginia - lol.


+4 votes
by

China's influence will grow in the coming years as their GDP grows. The U.S imports most of its products only from China.

China's GDP will grow more than that of the U.S. (Also note, in the year 2047, economies of Hong Kong & Macau will become part of China. Making China's GDP even grow more).

China has a vote in the UN.

China is now giving loans to Asian and African countries for building roads and ports in their countries. So China will get 'interest' for their money in the future and these countries will also trade more with China and obey the words of China.

China gave the loan to Sri Lanka for building a port in their country. The port has built but it doesn't make any money. So, now a new deal was made and the port and the land around it will be part of China for 99 years.

China has provided Sri Lanka with over $5 billion between 1971 and 2012, and most of this has gone into infrastructure development, with China investing $1 billion into a deep-water port at Hambantota and billions into the Mattala Airport, a new railway, and the Colombo Port City Project.

Not only Sri Lanka, China provided loans to many African and Asian countries.

Chinese loans come with a high-interest rate. Sri Lanka borrowed $301 million from China with an interest rate of 6.3%, while the interest rates on soft loans from the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank (ADB) are only 0.25–3%. Interest rates of India’s Line of Credit to the neighboring countries are as low as 1%, or even less, in some cases.

Also, Chinese will be the ones working in China funded projects around the world.

So, China will earn money from other countries.

China would be richer than the USA if it has oceans all around it. Because it makes trade easier. It applies to all countries.

In the USA, the eastern and the westerns states are richer than the middle states because of the ocean.

Russia has a big ocean surrounding it but most of it is frozen. That's the reason why they annexed Crimea.

Now the U.S dollar is the world currency. So, countries all over the world have purchased the U.S dollar. Once some other currency replaces the world currency then the U.S dollar will lose some of its current value.

by

@ Dan:  but why would Sri Lanka pay such a high interest rate to China for a loan?  Were they unable to get the money anywhere else?  Or perhaps China paid off the appropriate Sri Lankan politicians to make the bad deal?

+2 votes
by

There is Confucius Institute in Belgrade. It purposes are studies of Chinese culture, history and language. There are many similar Institutes in Belgrade: French, Spanish, Russian etc. I know that many NGOs are used for propaganda. They are paid by foreign institutions and corporations. 

by

Kninjanin, so what you are saying is that many governments are using this as a propaganda technique, of establishing so-called "institutes" - ? That is not good...

by

People can meet other cultures, but it could be used to colonize and conquer other countries. Great powers use organizations to colonize small countries. It is bad.

by

Yes, Kninjanin it is very bad.

Is this page not working?

Click here to see the recent version of this page

...