In 2019, Drew Pavlou – the student facing expulsion from the University of Queensland (UQ) over its sordid links with the Chinese Communist Party – explained how China has infiltrated Australia’s universities, most notably via its operation of Confucius Institutes:
Confucius Institutes, educational institutes funded and run by the Chinese party-state, have come under intense scrutiny in recent years for “repeatedly straying from their publicly declared key task of providing Mandarin Chinese language training” in favor of disseminating Chinese state propaganda. In 2015, China’s then-vice premier awarded [then UQ vice chancellor Peter] Hoj the Hanban “Outstanding Individual of the Year Award” for his “contribution, guidance and support to the UQ Confucius Institute and the Confucius Institute global network contributions to the promotion of the Confucius Institute network worldwide.” He only resigned from his position on the board of Hanban in December 2018 after being informed that his activities would have to be declared under Australia’s Foreign Influence Transparency Scheme…
Australia has 13 China-backed Confucius Institutes operating on university campuses. These Confucius Institutes are fully funded subsidiaries of China’s Ministry of Education.
