China’s ambassador to Australia Xiao Qian says CDU’s Confucius Institute is ‘best performing’ in Aus

China’s ambassador to Australia Xiao Qian has praised Charles Darwin University’s Confucius Institute as the ‘best performing’ in the country.

China’s ambassador to Australia Xiao Qian said last Thursday that Charles Darwin University’s Confucius Institute was the “best performing” in the country, a worrying endorsement of a program that has long concerned national security experts. Picture: NewsWire / Martin Ollman

China’s ambassador to Australia Xiao Qian says Charles Darwin University’s Confucius Institute is the “best performing” in the country – in an endorsement of a program that has long troubled national security experts.

His comments, which were made to a room of international delegates in Darwin last month, come after six Australian universities quietly closed their Confucius Institutes.

“The Confucius Institute at Charles Darwin University has been one of the best performing; I think it’s fair to say it’s the best performing Confucius Institute in this country,” Mr Qian said.

He did not explain how this performance was measured.

Mr Qian says CDU’s Confucius Institute is the best performing institute in the country. Picture: NewsWire / Martin Ollman

The federal government in 2023 signalled it would not allow any more of the Chinese government-linked education centres to open, citing concerns that they were being used as propaganda tools and to spy on Chinese international students.

When asked about Chinese interference at CDU after Mr Qian’s speech, Darwin Lord Mayor Kon Vatskalis, who is married to Amy Yu-Vatskalis, the director of CDU’s Confucius Institute, said he had not seen such for the “past 12 years”.

But national security experts were quick to note that Mr Qian’s endorsement of CDU’s Confucius Institute, just one of seven remaining in Australia, should not be viewed as a compliment, but rather a telling signal of China’s “strategic utility”.

Dr John Coyne, Director of National Security Programs at Australian Strategic Policy Institute. Picture: Supplied

“When China’s top diplomat praises your Confucius Institute as the best in the country, it’s not just a pat on the back. It’s a strategic warning shot,” said Dr John Coyne, the director of the Australian Strategic Policy Institute’s National Security Programs.

“This level of endorsement should prompt serious questions from CDU about what influence is being welcomed onto campus.”

Dr Coyne later said that the Northern Territory was a region of growing strategic importance to Australia, both militarily and economically, and that CDU was leaving the door ajar to subtle influence pushes from China.

“If CDU wants to be a partner in national security, defence innovation and AUKUS-linked research, then it must ask whether its relationship with a CCP-funded institute is compatible with that ambition,” he said.

CDU did not directly respond to several questions from this masthead. Picture: Pema Tamang Pakhrin

CDU did not directly respond to questions asking for its reaction to Mr Qian’s endorsement, if it had spoken with the ambassador since he made those claims, or if it had anything to say to concerned national security experts.

The university did, however, share that its Confucius Institute was a “platform for mutual understanding and development between cultures” and it aimed to “increase awareness and understanding of the Chinese language and culture”.

“Feedback from the community is that these are engaging and interesting, and participation and demand continue to grow,” a spokesperson said.