#14: Confucius Institute
Amidst surging demand to study Mandarin, China has steadily built a network of 500+ language institutes linked to
leading universities around the world.
Beijing sees it as meeting global demand and increasing the room for building person-to-person relations with aspiring
Mandarin speakers. While various countries’ intelligence communities (and increasingly, legislators) see it as a
deliberate back-door attempt by Beijing to infiltrate and influence higher education, student groups, and university-linked
research establishments.
Is this Beijing filling an obvious demand, or is the language being used as a Trojan Horse for something bigger?
Find out more in our latest infographic below.