Hope India treats Confucius Institutes in objective manner: Chinese embassy

Ahead of India’s review of local chapters of Confucius Institutes across the country, the Chinese Embassy on Tuesday (August 4) issued a statement hoping that India treats India-China higher education in an “objective and fair manner”, maintains healthy and stable development of people-to-people and cultural exchanges and doesn’t politicise the cooperation.

“We hope India-relevant parties can treat Confucius Institutes and China-India education cooperation in an objective and fair manner, avoid politicising normal cooperation, and maintain healthy and stable development of China-India people-to-people and cultural exchanges,” the statement read.

The statement also stressed the important role that Confucius Institutes have played in promoting Chinese language teaching in India and bolstering China-India people-to-people cultural exchanges.

Confucius institutes are public education partnerships between colleges and universities in China with those in other countries.

“With increasingly close economic, trade and cultural exchanges between China and India, demand for Chinese language teaching in India is growing. China-India cooperation on Confucius Institute Project has been carried out for more than 10 years,” the Embassy statement said.

The review will be carried out by the University Grants Commission and Education Ministry on Wednesday (August 5).

The Centre’s move came after intelligence agencies raised red flags around Confucius Institutes, pointing out that many central universities and institutes had signed pacts with Chinese institutes without the approval of the Centre.

The decision for review comes in the backdrop of strained India-China relations, further worsened by the border conflict in eastern Ladakh in which 20 Indian soldiers lost their lives.