Auckland Uni using Communist Party-backed staff to liaise with Chinese Consulate

A university institute focussed on teaching Mandarin language in schools appears to be doing diplomatic work.

The Auckland Confucius Institute – which has strong ties to the Chinese Communist Party – has been acting as a conduit between the University of Auckland and the Chinese Consulate-General, documents obtained under the Official Information Act reveal.

Messages and emails show staff at the institute organised multiple meetings between senior university staff and the Consul-General since mid-2018, including a dinner at the Consul-General's home.

The university has defended the arrangement, but an independent academic labelled the institute's involvement with the university as "entirely inappropriate".

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​In New Zealand, Confucius Institutes (CIs) receive funding from both the Chinese Communist Party and the New Zealand government to train Mandarin language assistants for primary and secondary schools and organise speech competitions.

Despite being based at Auckland, Canterbury and Victoria universities, CIs are not supposed to be involved in teaching at tertiary level.

Their role in the New Zealand education system has come under scrutiny before, with critics warning the programmes could compromise academic freedom.

The Pentagon was barred from funding Confucius Institutes on American campuses in August 2018.

Last month, the New South Wales Government scrapped a Confucius Institute programme in schools and replaced it with one run by the state's department of education. 

Correspondence shows the Auckland CI regularly acted as liaison in communications between the consulate-general and the university, passing on messages and organising meetings between the parties.

Duncan Campbell, an adjunct teaching fellow at Victoria University's School of Language and Cultures, has taught Chinese language and culture at New Zealand universities for more than 40 years.

He said while it was common for university staff to build professional relationships with diplomats, the CI should not be involved with that work. 

"In this case I would have thought that it's entirely inappropriate and it gets to the heart of the real issue with the Confucius Institute – why are they placed in our university system?

"If their focus is on the school system then what are they doing in the university? It doesn't make sense. They are not there surely to conduct diplomatic relations between universities and their stakeholders overseas. We have to be very careful."

Any meetings and communication between the university and consulate-general should go through official channels such as the vice chancellor's office or international education office, Campbell said.

A university spokeswoman said concerns about staff's interactions with the Consulate-General were "entirely misplaced".

"These were not CI events, the CI staff member assisted as an intermediary in setting up the meetings on account of her language skills and familiarity with Chinese culture and protocols."

She said the dinner at the Consul-General's home was "a social engagement" attended by consular, trade, business and academic personnel with an interest in building relationships between New Zealand and the People's Republic of China.

"These are very standard 'business as usual' events that are undertaken with diplomatic representatives of many countries."

Auckland University professor of Chinese Paul Clark, who is also on the Auckland Confucius Institute Advisory Board, confirmed he attended the dinner.

He said going to events organised by diplomats from China, South Korea, Japan and Hong Kong was important in increasing awareness of Asian Studies in the diplomatic community.

"I see no threat to my ability to think and write about China in an objective and scholarly way.  Any suggestion otherwise does indeed verge on the insulting."

The university's vice-chancellor of strategic engagement Jenny Dixon was also invited to the dinner at the Chinese Consulate-General's home, though it's unclear whether she went.

The People's Republic of China Consulate-General did not respond to questions from Stuff.