China’s Confucius Institute in Indonesia: Mobility, Frictions and Local Surprises

Rika Theo,Maggi W.H Leung

doi:10.3390/su10020530

Abstract

China’s cross-border language promotion body, the Confucius Institute (CI), has proliferated along with the mobility of Chinese capital and people worldwide. It embodies the ‘Going Out’ state strategy that promotes the global spread of Chinese capital, ideas, culture and people. Often seen as a vehicle of China’s power and influence, the CI has attracted much suspicion and even rejection as compared to similar institutions of other states. This paper examines the mobility of the CI and the encountered frictions when it lands in particular places, problematizing the commonly assumed unidirectional impact of the cross-border institution as a mighty soft power instrument. Specifically, it analyses the frictions of the CI’s establishment in Indonesia, where racial and political narratives on China and Chinese-Indonesians have long prevailed. Three cases are presented: one at the national level in Jakarta and two at the local level in the cities of Bandung and Makassar. By elaborating how frictions are created, resisted and managed differently, this paper illustrates the interplay of actors and power relations in the mobility of the CI, which in turn gives rise to particular local surprises. This paper also underlines the role of the Chinese-Indonesian diaspora as important bridge-builders of their two homelands.

Highlights

In the last decade, the Confucius Institute (CI)—China’s cross-border language and culture promotion body—has expanded rapidly along with the increasing mobility of Chinese capital and people worldwide
As China continues to open up its economy and increase its political influence, the dissemination of Chinese language and culture abroad has been officially pursued since the establishment of the CI in 2004
By carefully choosing to inhabit the space in between stopping and moving, they strategically engage with the changing power relation, unexpected exclusion and differentiation. We use this mobility and friction concept to analyze the mobility of institutions, which has been less examined compared to the mobility of people and capital

Summary

Introduction

Unlike the cross-border cultural institutions of other states, such as the United Kingdom’s British Council, Germany’s Goethe Institute and France’s Alliance Française, the CI has attracted suspicion and criticism, and even rejection This Chinese overseas institution has sparked intense debate among scholars, education officials and politicians over its role as China’s soft power instrument [3]. This paper explores and deepens the agency of the subject of power, in this case the state and diverse society in Indonesia, by analyzing the relations and negotiations between actors in each place and time. This includes the role of the Chinese-Indonesian (elective) diaspora. The “local surprise”, as we called it, points out the dynamics of local actors, their positionality, and power relations in their responses to the global flows

The Mobility and Frictions of Cross-Border Education Institutions

The Confucius Institute and the Encountered Friction

Materials and Methods

Conclusions