Leibniz University in Hanover has cooperation with the Confucius Institute examined
It was a big scandal last fall. Stefan Aust and Adrian Geiges wanted to present their book “Xi Jinping – the most powerful man in the world” online in parallel in Hanover and Duisburg. The organizers were the Confucius Institutes in both cities, which cooperate with the respective local universities. But then the Confucius Institute canceled the reading after intervention by the Chinese.
Is China Influencing the Confucius Institute?
At the time, Leibniz University announced that it would review its cooperation with the Leibniz Confucius Institute in Hanover. This is starting now. The university commissioned an external expert to carry out the evaluation. “They should examine to what extent the Chinese government can influence the Confucius Institute and to what extent this has happened so far,” says Christina von Haare, university vice president for international affairs.
The timing is favourable. In 2017, the Leibniz University and the Tongji University in Shanghai agreed to found the Confucius Institute. Professors from both universities make up the supervisory board, board of directors and board of the association. The contract is now expiring. The Leibniz University has now initially agreed that it can terminate the collaboration at any time. “We have made everything subject to reservations,” says University President Volker Epping.
Leibniz University reviews cooperation with Confucius Institute
The sinologist commissioned with the analysis should also check whether a new contract can contain securities that rule out political influence. “If the framework conditions cannot be clearly negotiated, we will end the cooperation,” says von Haaren. The university must guarantee the freedom of research and teaching. “But we also want to offer multicultural training.” If in doubt, you have to get these skills elsewhere.
So far, language teachers from the Confucius Institute have been teaching Chinese to students in the university’s language learning center. Students can also earn a China Competence Certificate, which can later benefit when working for an international company. The Confucius Institute also offers public language courses and cultural events. Due to the corona, everything is currently on the back burner, there are no new language teachers from China.
Von Haare reports that the club has probably also been critical of developments in China at its events in the past. However, the political climate in China has changed significantly in recent years.
Many contacts to scientists in China
“We had never experienced such an attempt at political influence before. That’s a no-go,” says Professor Monika Sester. During her time as Vice President of the Leibniz University for International Affairs, she promoted cooperation with China in the Confucius Institute. Numerous professors already had long-standing academic contacts in China. The deeper cooperation through a Confucius Institute should promote this. The exchange of doctoral students and applications for joint research projects were sometimes easier afterwards.
“Attempts to influence are unacceptable”
The German Rectors’ Conference (HRK) has been observing changes in the conditions of international university cooperation for some time. “In Germany, we associate certain values with international research cooperation: openness and fair cooperation on an equal footing, the free choice of research subject and teaching content, and the free availability of research results,” explains HRK President Peter-André Alt.
In view of worrying developments in some authoritarian states, the HRK 2020 set out guidelines for dealing with these partner countries, as well as its own paper specifically on China. “Attempts to exert influence, such as we recently experienced in Hanover, are unacceptable. The clear contradiction of the affected universities was absolutely correct. But I don’t believe in blanket regulations or bans,” says HRK President Alt. Dealing with this question is part of the autonomous action of the universities.
Some universities have ended their cooperation with a Confucius Institute, others have renegotiated the contract. Other universities have not experienced any problematic development so far. “There is no doubt about the importance of international university cooperation, but it is important to deal with challenges and risks soberly,” says Alt.
Sester continues to serve on the board of directors of the Confucius Institute. “We want to maintain our scientific connections to China despite all adversities, even if there are political cold periods,” emphasizes the professor of cartography and geoinformatics. China is too big to be ignored as a country, says Sester. “There are many very good scientists there from whom we can learn a lot.”
Von Haare takes a similar view when it comes to cooperation between researchers. Breaking off the cooperation would also be unfair to the Chinese scientists. “But we have to better control how scientific cooperation works.” In matters, the Confucius Institute will be the Vice President for International Affairs an open-ended examination.
By Bärbel Hilbig