The Determinant of Perception to The Confucius Institute

Abstract

This study investigates the determinants of the Five Eyes member governments responses towards the Confucius Institute. It is shown that countries took different positions based on its comprehensive threat analysis, including security and economic risks, from China. The results suggest that even within the Five Eyes security alliance, member states show a different level of security concerns towards China. This research used each governments attitude towards the adoption of Huawei equipment for the rollout of the 5G network as a measurement to determine the level of the perceived security threat from China. This study first categorized each country into three groups using the Huawei Barometer provided by Bloomberg and explain why and how the perceived level of security threat differs by analyzing the characteristics of its bilateral relationship with China. And the degree of containment towards the Confucius Institute was observed by reviewing law enactments, regular inspections, various governmental reports, media coverage, and collective actions taken by the public. The results suggest that the Five Eyes nations response to Confucius Institutes and perceived security threat represented as Huawei equipment adoption are positively correlated.