政治势力不断抹黑
公告规定显然是对孔子学院的发难，美国各地孔子学院均表示“令人吃惊”、“很不寻常”，并开始讨论如何应对。
舆论指出，人们不明白美国国务院为何要突然出台这样的规定，“毕竟，孔子学院在美国校园内已有近10年时间”。正如国家汉办负责人所指出的，孔子学院的宗旨是帮助世界各国人民学习汉语，了解中华文化,加强中外教育、文化交流与合作，增进中外人民之间的友谊。
美国的孔子学院是由美方自愿申请设立的，总部向孔子学院提供包括派遣志愿者在内的所有帮助，均系美方所要求。中方志愿者克服种种困难,积极热情服务,受到所在学校和家长的广泛欢迎。在合作举办孔子学院过程中，中美双方高校携手并肩,成绩斐然,为推动中美人文交流做出了重要贡献。
孔子学院已在106个国家的350多个教育机构落户，中小学孔子课堂发展更快，现已达到500多个。自2004年底马里兰大学作为美国第一家高校与中国南开大学合作建立孔子学院以来，至今美国已有81所孔子学院和300多个中小学孔子课堂，其中127个为孔子学院下设的课堂。
但是，美国社会确实存在一些政治势力，一直对孔子学院横加指责，不断抹黑孔子学院的教学活动。今年3月28日，美国国会外交事务监督与调查专门委员会就“中国公共外交代价”举行听证会时，国会众议员达纳・罗尔巴克尔就指责中国通过私营媒体和公共教育“进行宣传”。
美国大众看重交流
22日，弗吉尼亚大学教授杰马诺、博士生麦格拉斯和罗宾逊在接受记者采访时一致表示，学习汉语有助于增进美中两国人民的交流和理解，具有十分重要的意义。
来自中国的韦薇老师在华盛顿约翰・伊顿小学教授一至五年级汉语课程。她告诉记者，学生家长都非常希望学校能继续提供汉语教育，学校其他教师也很配合汉语教学，因为他们意识到中国经济发展速度很快，汉语将会是十分有用的交流工具。
韦薇的学生莉博蒂的母亲吕德斯夫人对记者说，在华盛顿地区，开设汉语课程的中小学校不多，她和丈夫很是费了一番功夫，才给女儿找到一所开设有汉语课程的小学。吕德斯夫人和其他一些家长纷纷表示，孩子们很喜欢汉语，韦薇老师教学水平也很高，希望她能在学校继续教下去。
乔治・梅森大学孔子学院一位负责人表示，希望国务院出台的新规没有政治方面的考虑，毕竟美国总统奥巴马提议的向中国派遣留学生的“十万强计划”也鼓励美国学生学习汉语。
孔子学院总部负责人指出，中美双方建立了“人文交流机制”，“十万强计划”就是其中一个重要内容。中国政府对此给予了大力支持。为了帮助计划的实施，汉办资助了其中1万名美国学校师生来华。而帮助招募这1万人的服务者，正是这些美国国务院要求6月30日离境的中国教师！
本报记者了解到，美国有关大学的校长对于国务院签署的这个公告非常反感，认为这是在干涉学校的教学自主权，他们正与国务院联系并交涉。面对强烈的质疑，美国国务院官员23日将赴马里兰大学，与马里兰大学校方、孔子学院负责人进行面对面的沟通。
（本报华盛顿、北京5月23日电）
外交部：中方正就孔子学院事件与美方进行沟通
问：据报道，美国务院日前称，美方将不向目前在美的孔子学院教师续签签证。中方对此有何评论？
答：中方主管部门正与美方进行沟通。我们希望此事能够得到妥善解决，不影响有关项目正常开展。【相关新闻：美大学校长致信国务院抗议关于孔子学院公告】
附件2：
英国《星期天时报》刊登伦敦政治经济学院著名外交学家Christopher Hughes 的文章，对英国孔子学院充满冷战的态度。http://www.thesundaytimes.co.uk/sto/news/uk_news/Educatio...
Beijing cash threatens to plunge LSE into new donations scandal Richard Kerbaj Published: 20 May 2012. THE London School of Economics （LSE） has been attacked by one of its own professors for accepting money from the Chinese government to fund a centre that he accuses of being a “propaganda arm” of Beijing.
Christopher Hughes, professor of international relations at the LSE and an expert on China, said the school’s acceptance of about ?400,000 from the Communist regime showed it had failed to learn from the scandal after it accepted a pledge of ?1.5m from Saif al-Islam Gadaffi, son of the late Libyan dictator.
In an internal submission to a group drafting the LSE’s new ethics code, Hughes attacked the school for an “extremely serious omission” in deciding to drop a proposed ban on financial links with regimes and individuals that fail to uphold human rights.
He warns that this could leave the LSE open to a repeat of the donations scandal that led to the resignation of Sir Howard Davies as director.
The Confucius Institute, set up at the LSE under Davies in 2006, is part of a network of more than 300 Chinese studies centres worldwide. They are funded through the country’s ministry of education and have been described by Li Changchun, a politburo member, as “an important part” of its “overseas propaganda” strategy.
There are 11 centres in Britain at universities including Edinburgh, Manchester and Nottingham.Hughes accused the LSE institute, which receives annual funding from Beijing, of being “divisive” and “illegitimate”, saying its existence would damage the school’s reputation. “It’s a propaganda organisation,” said Hughes this weekend.
The LSE said the Confucius Institute never attempted to “stifle discussion or inquiry”. It added that the school was drawing up a “new and comprehensive ethics code” that was due to be adopted in June.
Although the centres are notionally independent, there are restrictions on the kind of activities they can undertake. The institute’s worldwide constitution empowers it to sue anyone involved in “any activity” conducted in its name “without permission or authorisation from Confucius
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Beijing cash threatens to plunge LSE into new donations scan... http://www.thesundaytimes.co.uk/sto/news/uk_news/Educatio...
Institute headquarters”.
Richard Fadden, head of the Canadian secret intelligence service, said in 2010 that Confucius branches in Canada had “organised demonstrations to deal with what are called the five poisons: Taiwan, Falun Gong and others”.
Hughes said he supported dealing with China, but that academic links to the regime should be “transparent”. He added: “We need to engage with them, but . . . do we really want to have an organisation funded by the Chinese government with a specific political purpose on our campus which is quite big and growing in its activities?”
Hughes’s comments follow an inquiry by Lord Woolf into the LSE’s financial relationship with Saif al-Islam Gadaffi’s foundation. Last November Woolf reported that there had been a “chapter of failings” in the decision to accept donations. LSE received ?300,000 in total from the Gadaffi foundation. Woolf recommended setting up a code to deal with “ethics and reputational risk”.
In his submission dated May 11, Hughes warned that the school must avoid retreating on its commitment to reform its ethical approach. “I cannot see anything in the draft ethics code that addresses either the ethical principles or the decision-making processes that allowed this link with Libya to be formed,” he wrote.
2 of 2 20/05/2012 08:50加拿大华人网 http://www.sinoca.com/
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