Opinion | The only propaganda is targeted at Confucius Institutes themselves
By Tom Fowdy
Last night, Anti-China British Minister for Security, Tom Tugenhadt, responded to a question from another Anti-China MP, Iain Duncan Smith, regarding the future of China's Confucius Institutes in the United Kingdom. Tugenhadt responded by saying that the government "looks" to close all of the institutions in the UK. Not surprisingly, people celebrated the news in the wrongful, yet widespread assumption, that CI's are merely nothing more than a medium for political influence and "propaganda", than their actual purpose of providing instruction in the Chinese language.
When viewed in proper context, the only "propaganda" regarding Confucius Institutes is in fact the propaganda directed at Confucius Institutes themselves by the western mainstream media, as part of a coordinated campaign originating with the US government. The institutes have been transformed into an explicit political bogeyman, transforming something as innocent and benign as Chinese language education into a covert "threat" in a McCarthyist fashion. There is no serious evidence that any of these institutions have pursued what they have been accused of, from "propaganda" to "stifling academic freedom" or even "espionage."
Despite this, US-led think tanks and individuals sought to aggressively circulate a hostile narrative against CI's starting from 2019, which has not only nearly eradicated them from the United States (at least under their official names) after Pompeo fanatically designated them as "foreign missions" in 2020, but also from other countries frequently subject to American influence such as Canada, Australia and some countries in Europe. The campaign has been bad faith, hysterical and outright dishonest at times, and has never sought to depict the institutions in a balanced or fair light with respect to the language and cultural enrichment they bring.
On a domestic level in the UK, the newly installed government of Rishi Sunak is deeply unpopular, and this is unlikely to change short of a miracle for them. It carries the burden of being a continuation of two previous administrations which imploded in scandal and incompetence. Despite being the first British Indian Prime Minister, and a very wealthy capitalist, Rishi is set on pursuing the same nationalist and populist talking points espoused by his predecessors in order to affirm his political legitimacy, a trend which has been followed by other British Indians who have risen to senior positions in government.
Although Rishi was amicable to China while he was chancellor, since his first bid to become the leader of the Conservative Party he has aimed to depict himself as belligerent on Beijing, branding it the biggest "threat" to the UK and coming up with the nonsensical pledge to close all Confucius institutes. For his government, it is seen as a "low hanging fruit" because it is something incredibly easy to demonize, and invoke fear surrounding and few members of the public have an objective or informed understanding of what Confucius Institutes actually do, not least the core Conservative Party Constituency of who will be the least likely to use them.
In doing so, the Conservative government continues to advocate a self-destructive and self-harming foreign policy premised on ideology, populism and the misleading rendition of Britain as a contemporary great power, in subservience to the foreign policy goals of the United States. Not only will this move deprive Universities of much-needed revenue, inflame tensions with Beijing and ignite hatred, paranoia and suspicion of China, but it will also deprive thousands of British students access to high-quality Chinese language resources and burn bridges as opposed to building cultural links and mutual understanding.
And for what exactly? So that a highly unpopular right-wing government can not only pursue its continued subservience to the United States and attempt to score brownie points by appealing to people's worst fears. There is no propaganda campaign coming from Confucius Institutes, but there is plenty in fact going in their direction. The fact that something as benign and constructive as a Chinese language class can be depicted as a hostile, malign and covert propaganda operation is a testament to how toxic, insidious and bile-laden public opinion has become due to the influence of the United States and its proxies in the mainstream media.
The author is a well-seasoned writer and analyst with a large portfolio related to China topics, especially in the field of politics, international relations and more. He graduated with an Msc. in Chinese Studies from Oxford University in 2018.
The views do not necessarily reflect those of DotDotNews.
Read more articles by Tom Fowdy:
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