“Hanban’s website reveals that Confucius Institutes are present all over the world, with 135 institutes in Asia, 187 in Europe, 20 in Oceania, 61 in Africa, and 138 in America and specifically 75...Show more“Hanban’s website reveals that Confucius Institutes are present all over the world, with 135 institutes in Asia, 187 in Europe, 20 in Oceania, 61 in Africa, and 138 in America and specifically 75 in the U.S. In 2009, the website reveals that the institutes offered 9,000 Chinese courses on a worldwide scale, reaching a total enrollment of 260,000 people. However, Confucius Institutes are increasingly surrounded by worldwide criticism due to their affiliation with the Chinese Communist Party, or CCP. Many U.S. politicians and academics are raising concerns about issues regarding academic freedom and more recently of a potential political agenda being carried out by the party through the institutes. The NGO Human Rights Watch reported in January 2020 that 22 CIs have closed in the U.S. since August 2018 after the ‘John S. McCain National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2019’ was signed by the Congress (Legerwood, 2020).”Show less
