Bonn is one of 19 locations throughout Germany and, as usual, a partner of the university. But the "harmony" of all participants preached by Confucius has become fragile. The cooperation agreement between the university and the local Confucius Institute expired at the end of October. Joint initiatives that had already started before, such as a series of lectures, "will be continued, but no new activities will be started," explains university spokesperson Andreas Archut when asked. As he indicates, negotiations on further cooperation have been stalling on "contract amendments" for more than a year and a half.

According to the old contract, the university rents rooms to the Konfuzius-Institut Bonn e.V. for language courses and other events. The institute's costs, for example for management and staff, are borne by the association, mainly with subsidies from the Chinese treasury. According to the university spokesperson, the contract does not contain any restrictions on the content of the institute's work. But this is apparently the crux of the matter: China is a country with a cultural policy that is not free, both internally and in its external presentation.

An example from this October: the Confucius Institutes at the universities in Duisburg and Hanover wanted to present a German biography on the "helmsman" Xi Jinping, but cancelled the discussion at short notice at the behest of higher-ups.

Because of the appearance of a cog in the wheel of Chinese government propaganda, the University of Düsseldorf terminated its cooperation with its Confucius Institute at the beginning of last year, and the universities in Hamburg and Trier have also stopped cooperating. In general, China expert Andreas Fulda, currently a professor in England, says: "With the institutes, the universities are laying a cuckoo's egg in their nests."

In this sense, the Bonn student parliament called on the university more than a year ago to limit cooperation "to non-political language and culture courses". After the furore over the Xi Jingpin biography, the Ring Christlich-Demokratischer Studenten (Christian Democratic Students' Ring) and the Liberale Hochschulgruppe (Liberal University Group) in Bonn are now going further to demand that the rectorate "take a clear stance" in favour of "freedom of teaching and research: end the cooperation with the Confucius Institute!“

In the legal guise of a non-profit association, with Bonn University Professor Ralph Kauz as chairman and a managing director who also has an academic track record, the Confucius Institute seeks to dispel doubts about its academic openness. However, these are based not least on taboos that Managing Director Hannes Jedeck cannot ignore. Is it possible for him to give lectures on the prescribed re-education of the Islamic Uyghurs or the independence of the democratic island republic of Taiwan? The evasive answer in an earlier GA interview: "I am not sure whether such topics should not rather be dealt with in political science or sinology", i.e. at university level.

As an alternative to Confucius, the Federal Ministry of Education proclaimed a "strategy" in 2014 to "strengthen independent China competence in German academia". Universities can apply for millions of euros in funding with project proposals. These are to "prepare and support cooperations oriented towards European values - including freedom of research and teaching." According to its spokesperson, the University of Bonn has not yet submitted a project. (Original text: Hermann Horstkotte / Translation: Mareike Graepe)