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234 Panel 5China’s Confucius Institute and Its Civilizing Mission in the Mekong Region 1Nguyen Van ChinhIntroductionThe rise of China and its impact on the world ingeneral and its neighbors in particular have drawngreat attention from academia and policy-makers.Most work on China’s role in the Mekong basin tendsto concentrate on investment, trade, economic aid andimmigration flows. Yet together with its increasingeconomic influence, China has also sought to spreadits culture, in the service of its national interests.In the view of Koh (2011:202), China is attempting toobtain a “seat at the top table” and “to be respected bythe world”. To realize this goal, the Communist Partyof China (CPC) believes that it needs not only “hardpower” (economic and military strength) but also “softpower” (diplomacy, aid and culture). Academic workby Chinese scholars highlights the importance of softpower “for the sake of its {China’s} diplomaticstrategy” (Yu Xintian 2007; He Qinglian 2009). In theview of He Qinglian, Chinese language schools,overseas Chinese associations, and Chinese languagemedia have long been the “three precious treasures ofthe overseas united front” for the Chinesegovernment. He has emphasized the importance ofConfucius Institutes (CI) as an instrument to bringChinese communist cultural values to the world.“Foreign aid and comprehensive, mutuallypenetratingeconomic relations are the core ofChina’s “soft power” resources—this, unlike the“soft power” recognized by the internationalcommunity, is actually the “hard power” ofeconomic strength being peddled by China as“soft power”; and it is, under the promise of“incentives,” Chinese Communist culturalvalues and ideas cloaked in “ConfuciusInstitutes,” aimed at getting the world to accepta “Chinese culture” whose flavor has long agogone bad” (He Qinglian, 2009).Joseph Nye, an American scholar who fathered thetheory of soft power, has agreed, up to a point, that CIplay a significant role in China’s soft power projection.He has stated that “although China is far from equal inAmerica’s soft power, it would be foolish to ignore thegains it is making” (Nye, 2005). The role of CI hasengendered considerable debate. Some support theidea that CI are “an important part of China’s overseaspropaganda” (Economist, Oct 22 nd 2009; Chey 2008).Others consider CI “both as an arm of Chinese “softpower” abroad and as a potential vehicle forintelligence gathering” (McDownwel, 2010). Otherresearchers believe that the establishment of CIglobally does not necessarily strengthen Chinese softpower because China still struggles to cope with morefundamental issues such domestic poverty and socialdisorder. Furthermore, “the popular culture of Chinais feeble to influence the world” (Ren Zhe 2010).Taking these debates into account, this paper exploresthe establishment of CI in the Mekong basin countriesin general and in Thailand in particular.The establishment of Confucius Institutes in theMekong regionIn around 2005, China began to negotiate withcountries of the Mekong basin to set up CI. On 11January 2006, the China Office of Education forTeaching Chinese as a Foreign Language (Hanban) inBeijing signed an agreement with the Ministry ofEducation (MoE) of Thailand establishing aframework of cooperation for Chinese languageteaching, and permitting the establishment of CI andConfucius Classrooms in universities, secondaryschools and primary schools in Thailand. Under theagreement, the CI would receive funding, programs,curricula and volunteer teachers from China, in orderto conduct teaching and to organize cultural exchangeactivities (MoE 2006). The rationale for the agreementhas been stated in Thailand as being the result ofChina’s rapid economic expansion in the country, andas supporting the improvement of Thai-Chineserelations and mutual understanding since “Thailandneeds specialist human resources on China,particularly in the Chinese language and ChineseStudies” (Kriengsak 2008).The connection between the strategy of Chinesecultural expansion and the demand for humanresources in Thailand led to the swift establishment ofCI in Thailand, and to Chinese as a foreign languageThe Work of the 2010/2011 API Fellows