None of the universities which host a Confucius Institute is planning to register under the foreign influence transparency scheme.Credit:Bohdan Warchomij
Confucius Institutes are joint ventures between the universities and Hanban,a Chinese government entity that provides funding,staff and other support. While the arrangements and focuses vary across institutions,critics are concerned about China's censorship of sensitive issues and broader influence at host universities.
The 13 institutes were among hundreds of organisations to be directly contacted by the government over the new laws.
Government sources and independent experts have toldThe Sydney Morning Herald andThe Age the centres are an obvious and logical priority for the transparency scheme,one of the measures put in place under the government's crackdown on foreign interference and influence in Australia.
Representatives of the University of Sydney,University of Melbourne,Griffith University,Queensland University of Technology,Charles Darwin University,and University of Newcastle said their institutions had considered the legislation and concluded they did not currently need to register.
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A spokeswoman for the University of Western Australia said it would comply with the legislation but,"to date,the UWA Confucius Institute has not held any events that required registration".
A spokeswoman for the University of Queensland said the university was"continuing to take steps to ensure compliance with the requirements".