By @nivincent: “A group of cross-party MPs is in talks with #Taiwan to provide Mandarin teachers to the UK as the government seeks to phase out Chinese state-linked Confucius Institutes.” theguardian.com/world/2022/sep…
“Until recently, the Beijing-backed programme was viewed positively by the Conservative government. As education minister in 2014, Liz Truss praised the network of Confucius classrooms, saying they “will put in place a strong infrastructure for Mandarin” in the UK.”
“Almost all UK government spending on Mandarin teaching at schools is channelled through university-based Confucius Institutes, a study conducted by China Research Group in June has shown. This amounts to at least £27m allocated from 2015 to 2024, according to estimates.”
“Those involved in the talks with the Taiwanese included Tory MP Alicia Kearns. Under the new proposal being seen by MPs, this funding could be redirected to alternative programmes such as those from Taiwan.”
“It was revealed last month that only 14 FCDO officials are being trained to speak fluent Chinese each year. The lack of Mandarin proficiency raised concerns for British diplomacy and also put language teaching under the spotlight.”
“Such concerns are shared in the US, too, and Taiwan has stepped in. In December 2020, the Chinese-speaking island signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the US to expand language teaching.”
“Taipei’s Overseas Community Affairs Council, also a government agency, has been setting up Mandarin learning centres in a number of US cities since last year, in apparent competition with Confucius Institutes.”
“But Andrew Methven, who began studying Chinese two decades ago and now runs a Mandarin-learning newsletter, Slow Chinese, said that outsourcing language teaching “is not a solution”.
“There needs to be a much deeper change in how we understand China in our education system,” he said.
“For example, considering how China can be included more in the existing syllabus at GCSE level and below – such as China’s role in the second world war, as well as looking at earlier parts of Asian history.
At A-level and beyond, language should be taught based on experiences of people who have actually learned it, and not outsourced to anywhere – China, Taiwan or anywhere else.”
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Monday marks one year since Chinese journalist Huang Xueqin and labor rights activist Wang Jianbing's arrests. They have both been charged with subversion of state power and have been subject to very tough conditions in detention. My latest: dw.com/zh/%E9%9B%AA%E…
Huang was originally planning to pursue her graduate degree in the UK, but she was arrested alongside Wang on September 19th last year, one day before she was scheduled to fly out. They were officially "arrested" in October 2021 and their cases weren't sent to ...
... the prosecution until March 2022. During this process, they were reportedly put under solitary confinement for more than five months, which the authorities justified in the name of "pandemic prevention."
Following repeated incursions by Chinese civilian drones to #Taiwan's outlying Kinmen Island, authorities in #China's Xiamen City issued a statement, further restricting the regulations and conditions to acquire and fly civilian drones. udn.com/news/story/733…
Anyone who violates the rules and flies civilian drones to disrupt public order will be punished by the Penalties for Administration of Public Security.
The details of further regulations from #China include: 1. Individuals need to register their real identities when they buy drones.
From @WSJ: "Cardinal Zen is no stranger to #HongKong’s prisons. He visits inmates regularly. If ultimately prison were to be his fate, this good shepherd would regard it as a great gift, to suffer right alongside his sheep." wsj.com/articles/the-p…
"One question is whether the authorities will be satisfied with a fine. Originally the defendants were arrested for collusion with foreign forces, which can carry a life sentence.
A guilty finding would feed a narrative that these people were fundraising illegally to undermine China."
"Indian people living near the country’s disputed Himalayan border with #China have accused their government of giving away swathes of land after both sides agreed to withdraw troops from some contested areas and create buffer zones."theguardian.com/world/2022/sep…
"Earlier this month, Indian and Chinese troops, who have been locked in a tense border dispute since June 2020, began to draw back from the contested area of Gogra-Hot Springs after an agreement was reached to disengage."
"The Indian government said the agreement restored the territory on both sides of the contested border, known as the line of actual control, to the “pre-standoff period”. In the newly created buffer zones, neither side will be allowed to patrol their troops."
"Diplomats and human rights advocates are stepping up pressure on the United Nations to act over #China’s treatment of the #Uyghurs and other mostly Muslim ethnic groups, ...aljazeera.com/news/2022/9/20…
... as Beijing tries to head off further scrutiny of what is happening in the northwestern region of #Xinjiang."
“Inaction is no longer possible,” Fernand de Varennes, the UN’s special rapporteur on minority rights, said at the forum sponsored by the Atlantic Council and Human Rights Watch. “If we allow this to go unpunished, what kind of message is being propagated?”
On the sideline of the UN General Assembly, #Taiwan President @iingwen delivered a televised address at the Concordia Summit, saying extinguishing Taiwan's democracy is not #China's only goal. nationalreview.com/corner/extingu…
“Russia’s unprovoked invasion of Ukraine and the daily threats that Taiwan faces are all evidence that shows authoritarian regimes will do whatever it takes to achieve expansionism,” Tsai said.
"Tsai’s speech is the first time that a Taiwanese leader has addressed even an unofficial gathering adjacent to the U.N. General Assembly’s annual meeting since China’s Communist government succeeded in securing Taiwan’s ejection from the U.N. in 1971."