A book review of a biography about Chinese President Xi Jinping has been canceled in Germany under Chinese pressure. reported that German media Monday. The journalists Adrian Geiges and Stefan Aust would publish their book on Wednesday Xi Jinping, the most powerful man in the world during an online lecture organized by the Confucius Institute of Hanover. The meeting was moved to Duisburg because of a „disagreement with Chinese partnersThe Chinese Language and Culture Institute claimed on Tuesday. According to publisher Piper Verlag, the presentation in Duisburg was subsequently canceled after Chinese interference.
In a statement says the Leibniz Universität, to which the Confucius Institute of Hanover is affiliated, “in no way involved in either the realization or the cancellation”, but the reason for canceling the book presentation is “unacceptable, surprising and unwise” find. The replacement lecture at the University of Duisburg-Essen has been canceled by the Confucius Institute of the Metropolis Ruhr. In The Financial Times Piper Verlag claims Tuesday that the Chinese consul in Düsseldorf, Feng Haiyang, had insisted on this.
In Die Welt Author Aust said Monday that he was “extremely surprised” at the cancellations: “I could not have imagined pressure from Beijing to prevent us from discussing our book.” According to him, the book is a “very sober and factual” treatise on Xi Jinping’s career. The science minister of the federal state of Niedersachsen Björn Thümler (CDU) informed the Confucius Institutes at broadcaster NDR corrected: “Everyone who lives and learns with us must recognize academic freedom and freedom of expression.”
Confucius Institutes
Confucius Institutes are controversial worldwide for their close ties to the Chinese Communist Party. Officially, the organization aims to promote the Chinese language and culture, but as a result of incidents in America and Belgium, among other things, there are rumors that the institutes are pursuing a secret agenda. For example, they would undermine the academic freedom and autonomy of educational institutions abroad, or be used for knowledge espionage.
Also read: Confucius Institutes feel no pressure from Chinese side
In the Netherlands, the organization has departments at Hogeschool Zuyd in Maastricht and the University of Groningen. Leiden University ended the collaboration in 2019, because the institute “no longer fit in with the university’s China strategy”. The Groningen department came under fire in February this year, when it turned out that a professor of Chinese funded by the Confucius Institute was not allowed to damage China’s image under his contract.
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