China Cries Foul As India Decides To Review Presence Of Confucius Institutes

China on Tuesday (4 August) urged Indian authorities to treat cooperation in higher education in a fair and objective manner and to not politicise what it called "normal cooperation", asking India to maintain healthy and stable development of China-India people-to-people and cultural exchanges, reports Times of India.

The Chinese reaction came as reports emerged that the Ministry of Education has begun a review of the presence of Chinese Confucius Institutes and Confucius Classrooms in the nation. These have been established in India in a joint fashion by Chinese Communist Party (CCP) regime backed Confucius Institute and seven Indian universities and colleges.

It should also be noted that 54 Memorandums of Understanding (MoUs) signed between India and China for inter-school cooperation are also said to be have been taken up for review by the Ministry.

China has pressed that Confucius Institutes have played a vital role in the promotion of Chinese language teaching and China-India people-to-people and cultural exchanges.

Meanwhile, it should be noted that Confucius Institutes have come under the lens of suspicion in several nations across the world for allegedly spreading Chinese propaganda. Sweden reportedly shut down all such institutes operating in the country earlier this year.