A group of cross-party British lawmakers is in talks with Taiwan to provide Chinese-language teachers to the United Kingdom as the government seeks to phase out Confucius Institutes, according to media reports.
A Chinese state-linked Confucius language learning and teaching project has been under heavy scrutiny as the bilateral relations between China and the UK continue to deteriorate. The Taipei Times reported that there are 30 branches of the institute operating across the UK.
Notably, the schools are effectively joint ventures between a host university in Britain, a partner university in China, and the Chinese International Education Foundation, a Beijing-based organization.
Earlier in 2014, current British Prime Minister Liz Truss had praised the network of Confucius classrooms. Serving as education minister at the time, she said the institutes “will put in place a strong infrastructure for Mandarin” in the UK, as per The Taipei Times.
However, recent reports indicate that she was prepared to declare China an “acute threat” to the UK’s national security, putting it on par with Russia.
