The Herald reports that Australian universities are holding off on registering Confucius Institutes under the new foreign influence transparency scheme. The scheme is designed to list for public scrutiny the lawful activities of bodies trying to exercise influence in Australia on behalf of foreign governments.

Universities have complied by registering American studies centres that receive funding from Washington on the grounds that they engage in political discussion. If Confucius Institutes have not been registered, despite being substantially funded from Beijing, it may be because they are thought to confine their activities to "culture and language". No politics.

There are Confucius Institutes at 13 Australian universities but none are registering under the new foreign influence transparency scheme. Credit:Bryan O'Brien

In fact, there is no boundary between politics and what passes for culture in contemporary China. The Cultural Revolution, a violent political movement that ripped China apart in the late sixties, was not called a "cultural" revolution for nothing.

A bitter struggle over power and policy was waged in the cultural realm on the understanding that parties wanting to influence or command a government must first control what is said about them through a country’s education, media and cultural institutions. Politics as we know it, involving opposition, debate and negotiation, gave way to the politics of controlling universities, media, and culture.