Confucius part of Chinese bid to win over western hearts: CSIS
OTTAWA - Canada's spy service believes China has enlisted Confucius, the master of enduring wisdom, in its drive for global dominance.
A newly declassified intelligence report by the Canadian Security Intelligence Service says Beijing is out to win the world's hearts and minds, not just its economic markets, as a means of cementing power.
The secret CSIS brief, obtained by The Canadian Press under the Access to Information Act, points to the creation of more than 100 Confucius Institutes around the world, including one at the British Columbia Institute of Technology in Vancouver.
The Confucius Institutes, the brainchild of Beijing's Ministry of Education, primarily promote Chinese language and culture.
''In other words, China wants the world to have positive feelings towards China and things Chinese,'' the CSIS report says.
''For China to achieve its goals, people must admire China to some degree.''
CSIS director Jim Judd recently acknowledged the agency devotes considerable effort to keeping an eye on monitoring Chinese operatives.
China denies allegations it schemes to pilfer Canadian military and industrial technology.
The CSIS report, portions of which were blacked out, paints the spread of Confucius Institutes as a calculated use of the discipline known as ''soft power.''
''While academics debate the relative importance of hard power - tanks, missiles, guns and the like - versus soft power, the People's Republic of China (PRC) government views the soft power concept as useful,'' the February intelligence report says. ''PRC officials refer to China's quest for soft power in the official media.''
The spy service notes analogies have been drawn between the Confucius Institutes and the German Goethe Institutes, the Spanish Cervantes Institutes and the French Alliance Francaise.
Since the opening of Canada's first Confucius Institute in Vancouver last year, agreements have been struck to create institutes in Waterloo, Ont., Montreal and Moncton, N.B.
The website of the Confucius Institute at the B.C. Institute of Technology says it aims to provide ''market-driven programs and services that will serve the needs of the local community and promote culture and business ties for economic developments between China and Canada.''
Allison Markin, a spokeswoman for the Institute of Technology, said the school was unaware of CSIS's interest.
''We're an educational institute, so it's not something we look at in a political vein, or any sort of security vein,'' she said Monday. ''What we're doing really is delivering education for people.''
A newly declassified intelligence report by the Canadian Security Intelligence Service says Beijing is out to win the world's hearts and minds, not just its economic markets, as a means of cementing power.
The secret CSIS brief, obtained by The Canadian Press under the Access to Information Act, points to the creation of more than 100 Confucius Institutes around the world, including one at the British Columbia Institute of Technology in Vancouver.
The Confucius Institutes, the brainchild of Beijing's Ministry of Education, primarily promote Chinese language and culture.
''In other words, China wants the world to have positive feelings towards China and things Chinese,'' the CSIS report says.
''For China to achieve its goals, people must admire China to some degree.''
CSIS director Jim Judd recently acknowledged the agency devotes considerable effort to keeping an eye on monitoring Chinese operatives.
China denies allegations it schemes to pilfer Canadian military and industrial technology.
The CSIS report, portions of which were blacked out, paints the spread of Confucius Institutes as a calculated use of the discipline known as ''soft power.''
''While academics debate the relative importance of hard power - tanks, missiles, guns and the like - versus soft power, the People's Republic of China (PRC) government views the soft power concept as useful,'' the February intelligence report says. ''PRC officials refer to China's quest for soft power in the official media.''
The spy service notes analogies have been drawn between the Confucius Institutes and the German Goethe Institutes, the Spanish Cervantes Institutes and the French Alliance Francaise.
Since the opening of Canada's first Confucius Institute in Vancouver last year, agreements have been struck to create institutes in Waterloo, Ont., Montreal and Moncton, N.B.
The website of the Confucius Institute at the B.C. Institute of Technology says it aims to provide ''market-driven programs and services that will serve the needs of the local community and promote culture and business ties for economic developments between China and Canada.''
Allison Markin, a spokeswoman for the Institute of Technology, said the school was unaware of CSIS's interest.
''We're an educational institute, so it's not something we look at in a political vein, or any sort of security vein,'' she said Monday. ''What we're doing really is delivering education for people.''
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