Thread by @AMFChina

My new op-ed 'Chinese Propaganda Has No Place on Campus' has just been published in @ForeignPolicy

@marcorubio @bueti @TomTugendhat @StvlL

foreignpolicy.com/2019/10/15/con…

In this op-ed I critique the role of Confucius Institutes (CIs), funded and run by the Chinese party-state, in extending Chinese censorship to Western universities /2

My policy advice for governments and regulators is based on a nuanced understanding of the Chinese Communist Party's (CCP) sharp power operations at home and abroad /3

CIs have been critiqued for repeatedly straying from their publicly declared key task of providing Mandarin Chinese language training and for venturing into deep ideological territory /4

I argue that CCP-funded CIs compound the problem of self-censorship among China scholars and bring another factor in – the hope of money, and the fear of losing it /5

CIs can be likened to an "anaconda in the chandelier".

While the anaconda may not move, its shadow nevertheless induces fear among staff, students and university managers alike, and they react accordingly /6

Confucius Institutes play a double role: they are a cultural and a political organisation in one /7

All this points to a critical truth: the decision on hosting CIs on campus should not be devolved to universities, but made by the state /8

Unless they’re willing to see the Chinese Communist Party's grip tighten on their own institutions, goverments worldwide should move to ban CIs from operating on university campuses /9

Critics call this McCarthyism. But such a state intervention would not be undermining but in fact restoring academic autonomy and freedom of speech /10

Nobody is calling for intellectual restrictions or ideological tests for staff – merely for a recognition that money is power, and that the CCP is ready to use it /11

Such state intervention would also provide the necessary cover for universities to terminate their existing cooperation agreements with CIs without being accused of picking a fight with the CCP /12

Opponents of such a state intervention should bear in mind that CIs—just like any other cultural organisation operating overseas—could still register as civic groups and rent out office space off campus and continue their public relations work /13

This is how Western cultural organisations like the Goethe Institute, British Council and Institut Francais operate globally /14

Removing CIs from universities could be considered an overdue standardisation which brings them in line with common global practice /15

Following such a ban CIs could also merge with China Culture Centres, another Chinese cultural organisation that operates with more than 30 branches worldwide /16

But governments and universities alike should make up for the limited loss of revenue by fully funding Chinese language and contemporary Chinese studies provision /17

If China matters - and most would agree that it does, whether for national security or social and cultural reasons - they should put their money where their mouth is /18

It remains the responsibility of Western educators to proactively engage Chinese students and scholars as individuals and take the lead in introducing domestic students to mainland China, rather than letting the CCP and its outlets 'own' the China story /End

I would like to thank @Aureliano_no_24 and @METhorley for their most helpful feedback on earlier drafts and @BeijingPalmer for his thorough editing of this op-ed

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