The final remaining Confucius Institute in Sweden has closed its doors in what is widely seen as another step in the fast-deteriorating relationship between the Nordic country and China.
Confucius Institutes are educational institutions sponsored by the Chinese government. They have been operating since 2014. While they focus on teaching Chinese language skills and introducing Chinese culture to foreign audiences, they are widely seen as advancing the country’s diplomatic interests.
Topics sensitive to the Chinese state – such as the independence of Taiwan or repression in Tibet – are presented exclusively from its perspective, or otherwise downplayed. There have also been allegations of hiring decisions being made on the basis of applicants’ political views.
In addition, the Institutes have come under criticism for attempted bullying of scholars who do not share their views. A significant such incident occurred at an academic conference in Braga, Portugal, in 2014. The director of the Chinese National Office for Teaching Chinese as a Foreign Language, under which the Institutes fall, ordered her subordinates to seize and remove materials that mentioned Taiwanese academic institutions – these materials had been intended for conference attendees.
Swedish institutions have cut their ties with Confucius Institutes over the past few years, with the closure of the last one, in the southern town of Falkenberg, signalling their disappearance from the country. Bjorn Jerden, a scholar of Asia at the Swedish Institute of International Affairs, pointed to this as evidence of the decline of the relationship between the two countries.
In 2013, the Vice Chancellor of Stockholm University had publicly defended the association with Confucius Institutes, dismissing their critics as suffering from ‘liberal fundamentalism’.
In addition, the city of Gothenburg terminated its twin-city agreement with Shanghai, its mayor remarking: ‘Exchange in the past two to three years has been minimal. And considering the times we are in, we don’t find it suitable to extend the twin-city agreement.’
Ties between Sweden and China have also been strained over the arrest of a naturalised Swedish citizen of Chinese descent, Gui Minhai, on charges of espionage – although it was widely suspected that he was being punished for opposition to Chinese policy and as a demonstration that the Chinese state could exercise authority over people of Chinese heritage.
The Covid-19 pandemic and China’s response to it have damaged its global image, and have prompted much discussion about how other nations – particularly democracies and ‘Western’ societies – should relate to it in future.