German society has become increasingly concerned about the Chinese Communist Party-controlled Confucius Institutes, accusing them of advocating for the Party, avoiding sensitive topics and endangering academic freedom. The following is an example of the German media exposure some time ago.
A Sinologist invited by the Left Party to speak at a Bundestag hearing on human rights in China endorsed the Chinese Communist Party to play down its persecution of Uighurs, according to an article published by German media Le Monde on November 21. The article reveals that the Sinologist was the director of the Confucius Institute in Berlin.
Other speakers at the hearing on Human rights in China provided specific examples of the Communist Party’s alleged persecution of millions of Uighurs through the establishment of so-called re-education camps. And the Sinologist uses much of the official Communist party rhetoric, such as referring to the camps in Xinjiang as “vocational training centres” or “centres of de-radicalisation”. The Sinologist denies that the Party is persecuting the People of Xinjiang, and she describes a scenario that the party propagandiszes as a threat to China against a group of so-called “terrorists” in the northwest.
The Sinologist “used communist Party propaganda to reverse the roles of perpetrator and victim”, the Le Monde article said.
The paper also revealed that Mechthild Leutner, a Sinologist, appeared at the hearing as a former professor of east Asian Studies at the Free University of Berlin. She did not mention that she was once the director of the Confucius Institute in Berlin and is still the institute’s chairman.
The Confucius Institutes, which claim to promote The Chinese language and culture overseas, are widely suspected of being propaganda machines for the Communist Party and of helping it expand its political influence abroad because of its close ties to the party’s propaganda department.
Not only did the Sinologist endorsing the Communist Party raise questions, the article said, but the leftist party group that invited her was also accused of promoting socialism.
Protests have taken place in front of a number of German hospitals on the International Day of Human Rights
Germany currently has 19 Confucius Institutes, of which the University of Dusseldorf has suspended its collaboration with Confucius Institutes, and Hamburg has announced that it will end its collaboration with Confucius Institutes by the end of this year. The FDP has made it clear that Germany should end co-operation with the Confucius Institute and stop funding it.
On December 10, the International Day of Human Rights, the FDK Youth group JuLis staged protests in front of various Confucius Institutes in Germany, including Confucius institutes in 12 cities including Berlin, Munich, Frankfurt and Gottingen.
At the protest in Berlin, two FDP parliamentarians, Gyde Jensen and Jens Brandenburg, also spoke.
As part of the Publicity Department of the Communist Party of China (CPC), kongyuan is part of the Chinese government’s exercise of “soft power,” according to the group. At the Confucius Institute, key issues such as Tibet, human rights violations against Uighurs, and the violent crackdown on protesters in Hong Kong are not allowed to be discussed. Behind the seemingly innocuous tea ceremony and culture classes lurks the propaganda of a cold authoritarian regime. This is not a German university.
The FDP youth group demanded that Germany stop all funding and cooperation for Confucius Institutes.
Brandenburg, a Bundestag member, has put the Chinese Communist Party’s influence through Confucius Institutes on the parliamentary agenda. As well as citing many examples of the Chinese Communist Party exerting influence through Confucius Institutes, he called on the federal government to end its cooperation with Confucius Institutes.
The report revealed that the Confucius Institute used sinologists to endorse the Communist Party
The epoch Times website has published a series of investigation reports on Confucius Institutes in Germany since November, revealing a large number of facts that Confucius Institutes promote for the Chinese Communist Party, including the use of foreign experts and scholars to promote them, including Sinologists.
Sun Chunlan, vice Premier of The State Council of the Communist Party of China (CPC) and chairman of the Confucius Institute Headquarters Council, delivered a speech at the 13th Confucius Institute Conference, saying that the Confucius Institute “should carry out rich and colorful cultural activities, play the role of sinologists as cultural ambassadors, and cultivate a comprehensive platform for people-to-people exchanges.”
The report mentions Sinologist Professor Helwig Schmidt-Glintzer. Shi Hanwei is a professor at The University of Tubingen and director of the China Center at the University of Tubingen. He has served as the vice chairman of the Confucius Institute since 2014 and won the National Government Award of the Communist Party of China in 2015 — “China Book Special Contribution Award”.
Mr. Shi is often invited to speak at Confucius Institutes in Germany. He once wrote a biography of MAO Zedong, in which he was strongly criticized by the German media for his praise of MAO. He also repudiated Hong Kong citizens’ struggle for democracy in 2019 and praised the Chinese Communist Party for its remarkable achievements in fighting the epidemic.
“He is in effect the face of the Communist Party abroad, the chosen ’emissary’. Such a person would not criticize the Communist Party’s human rights abuses.”
The report also mentions Jorg-Meinhard Rudolph, a Sinologist not affiliated with the Confucius Institute. Rudolph has repeatedly made public comments criticizing the hole courtyard.
For example, according to German radio on July 11, 2014, Rudolf does not believe in freedom of research and teaching in the Confucius Institute because, unlike the German Goethe Institute, the Confucius Institute is not funded by a country according to clear tax standards. More than a dozen German universities that have established Confucius Institutes actually receive funding directly from the Communist Party, each receiving $100,000 a year.
“Confucius Institutes are not paid for by the Chinese government, but by a political party, an organization that represents the individual,” Rudolph said. Publicity and public relations are part of the operations of these Confucius Institutes. As a result, foreign players were removed from the game because they took money from the Chinese (Communist Party). And what it does is, they have a very big pair of scissors in their head, or they accept the Chinese point of view.”
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