Major Taiwanese news network Liberty Times Network (LTN) recently reported that the Australian authorities have started an investigation into agreements signed between 13 Australian universities and the Chinese Confucius Institute. These agreements all allow the Chinese government to review and control the teaching content of the Confucius Institutes. The Australian government suspected that these agreements are in fact in violation of the anti-foreign-interference laws passed last year. The investigation found that all these agreements have a certain levels of compromise of the university’s academic freedom. In exchange they receive Chinese funding support, 3000 Chinese books and some other educational resources. Among the 13 universities, four of them – the University of Queensland (UQ), Griffith University (GU), La Trobe University (LTU) and Charles Darwin University (CDU) – compromised the most. They all accepted in writing that they would allow the Chinese government to inspect teaching quality. Australian Inspector General Christian Porter confirmed that the government is evaluating the application of the new laws.
Source: LTN, July 25, 2019
https://news.ltn.com.tw/news/world/breakingnews/2864124