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DW Chinese: New South Wales Canceled its Confucius Institutes

Deutsche Welle Chinese recently reported that Australia’s most populous state – New South Wales – just canceled all of its projects under the umbrella of Confucius Institute in its 13 public middle schools and elementary schools. The state government explained that the Confucius Institute projects mainly represent inappropriate foreign influence, although no foreign government interference was discovered. Typically, Confucius Institute partner up with schools. However, in New South Wales, the department of Education is the direct partner. This is the only instance globally where this has occurred. At this point, colleges in New South Wales with Confucius Institutes have not been impacted. China is Australia’s largest trade partner, and Australia has been trying to enhance its Chinese language education to adjust to its trade needs. However, in recent years Australia has been keeping a distance from China due to national security concerns. New laws have been introduced to regulate foreign relations. The Confucius Institute is suspected of being a foreign government agent since a branch of the Chinese central government runs it directly.

Source: Deutsche Welle Chinese, August 23, 2019
https://p.dw.com/p/3OMdZ