The head of the Confucius Institute in Brussels, a professor of Chinese nationality has been banned by Belgium for 8 years, which enables him to enter any of the rest 25 Schengen member states either.

Song Xinning, who is also the former director of the institute at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB) and a professor at Renmin University in Beijing, says he was accused by authorities in Belgium for supporting Chinese intelligence activities by acting as a recruiter for them. Professor Xinning denies the accusations.

“I found this accusation very laughable as I do not even have students in Belgium. My PhD students are in China,” Song says, adding that he suspects the ban comes due to his rejection of an offer by an American diplomat to “cooperate with American intelligence units”.

“I was warned at the meeting [with the American diplomat] that if I did not cooperate, there would be serious consequences,” he said. “So obviously this is the result. I was prepared.”

According to him, in early April he met with an American envoy, at an event held by the VUB Confucius Institute, where he was asked to cooperate with them. Xinning says he immediately rejected the request.

At the time, Xinning was waiting for a response on his visa extension application. Though he was granted with a work permit, on July 30 the authorities in Brussels told him his visa would not be extended due to his “support for Chinese intelligence activities”.

The Belgian embassy in Beijing later informed him of the ban from entering the Schengen area. He is now appealing the decision.

Confucius Institutes are placed in almost 500 higher education institutions abroad and are overseen by the Education Ministry of the People’s Republic of China. Some of the institutions located in the US and Australia have shut down due to allegations of undue influence./ scmp.com