The Confucius Institutes were actually intended as a soft-power initiative to arouse sympathy for China abroad.

However, they are now viewed with suspicion in many parts of the world.

Dozens of facilities in Europe and the United States have closed again in recent years.

A country that China regards as a province of its own could benefit from this: Taiwan.

In September, the government in Taipei announced the opening of 18 Chinese language centers, 15 of them in America, the remaining three in Hamburg, Paris and London.

More are to follow.

The responsible ministry in Taipei speaks of a "free and democratic alternative to learning Chinese".

Friederike Böge

Political correspondent for China, North Korea and Mongolia.

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The initiative is supported by the American government.

In December 2020, both sides signed an agreement in Taipei.

A spokeswoman for the US State Department praised the program at the time as an opportunity for students to "learn Mandarin while protecting academic freedom" - a swipe at the Confucius Institutes.

The then Secretary of State Mike Pompeo had campaigned for the closure of all Confucius Institutes at American universities and accused them of recruiting "spies and collaborators" at the universities.

Harvard University relocates language learning programs

The language centers sponsored by the Taiwanese government are not only intended to teach Chinese, but also to convey a positive image of Taiwan. This gives Taipei an opportunity to explain to the public abroad the complicated situation in Taiwan, which is a democratically governed country that cannot be called a country because China wants it to be. During the opening of the first language center in California in September, Minister Tong Chen-yuan said Taiwan was ready to "help out" after Beijing's influence on academic affairs had become "unacceptable" to America.

Unlike the Confucius Institutes, the Taiwanese language centers are not located at foreign universities. One can assume that the interest of most universities in such a cooperation would be low, because the reaction from Beijing is foreseeable. The possibilities for still attractive research collaborations with China would then presumably be severely restricted.

There is great distrust of China in the Taiwanese centers. Teachers with a Chinese passport or ID from Hong Kong are not allowed to teach there. Materials with simplified Chinese characters, such as those introduced in China as part of several writing reforms since the 1950s, are also prohibited. The relevant Taiwanese authority reserves the right to approve the textbooks. Language students will also be invited to government cultural events and encouraged to take advanced language courses in Taiwan.

Beyond the schools abroad, Taiwan is also gaining in importance as a study location for people who want to learn Chinese. Harvard University recently moved one of its language learning programs from Beijing to Taipei. The program director Jennifer Liu told the student newspaper The Harvard Crimson that they no longer felt welcome at the previous partner university in Beijing.

Because of the strict corona rules, since the beginning of the pandemic hardly any foreign students have been able to enter China.

Taiwan benefits from that too.

The island also benefits from the fact that China has expelled numerous correspondents for the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal and the Washington Post, many of whom have relocated to Taipei.

There have seldom been so many reports about Taiwan as there are now.

Chinese policy is actually geared towards doing everything possible to deny Taiwan an international stage.