Why Did Sweden Shut Down The Confucius Institute In All Universities?

Welcome to Sound of Hope News, I'm Golden Lee. Sweden, the first country in Europe to introduce the Chinese Communist Party's Confucius Institutes, has also become the first country in Europe to say goodbye to them in 2020. Two years after the Confucius Institute was kicked out of Sweden, the local Chinese education system at all levels has not changed much. Voice of America reported that Stockholm University ended its 10-year cooperation with the Confucius Institute in 2015 because the existence of institutions funded by other countries in the university system was questionable. After the direct influence of the Chinese government was stripped away, Chinese language education in Sweden still grew steadily. Stockholm University has a long tradition of Sinology research, a fixed administrative establishment and good Chinese language teachers. Opting out has not affected its teaching of Chinese language and academic research. The Deputy Director of the Department of Languages at the University of Gothenburg in Sweden, Fredrik Philman, said that choosing not to continue to cooperate with the Confucius Institute was a decision made by the university and was not a requirement of the government. It is well known that the CCP uses its Confucius Institutes to export ideology. Philman said that the Confucius Institutes do not teach the same values of free speech like the West. It censors discussion on sensitive topics such as religion and ethnic rights, which cannot meet the needs of modern liberal and democratic societies for educational institutions. A new face in Sweden's Chinese language education market this year, Taiwan's Center for Mandarin Learning in Sweden. This language education institution, funded by the Taiwanese government, has successfully set up centers in the United States, Britain, Germany, France and other countries since last year.