India-China relations in the contemporary period have largely been characterized by geopolitics and strategic competition. But people-to-people relations and cultural contacts have continued, with some success in furthering the civilizational connection between the two countries. Over the last decade, China’s signature public diplomacy and cultural export to India (and also the world) has been Confucius Institutes and sister city agreements. They have emerged as a significant avenue of cultural interaction devised by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) to engage with people in foreign countries. However, these vectors of connection between India and China have failed to materialize into a successful mode of civilizational and cultural exchange. But why?
Confucius Institutes are Chinese language and culture centres run by the Chinese government to train and educate foreigners in the Chinese language and culture. They have been a major part of China’s soft power and a source of influence in academia, media and civil society in countries around the world. On the other hand, sister city relationships are mechanisms for fostering municipal collaborations between cities in India and China. From facilitating economic exchanges to preserving historical legacies and addressing contemporary challenges, these partnerships claimed to epitomize the spirit of cooperation. However, the purpose of establishing these partnerships has come into question due to the scrutiny on Confucius Institutes and Sister City Agreements in several countries like India.
Confucius Institute
Origins
The first Confucius Institute in India was set up in Mumbai in 2013 by the University of Tianjin and Mumbai University. It was designed to not just teach the Chinese language, but also engage in student and faculty exchange programs between India and China. Along with Confucius Institutes, Chinese Language Centres in India were started in 2009, the first of which was set up at the Vellore Institute of Technology, with Zhengzhou University of China as a partner institution. There are 550 Confucius Institutes around the world and 1172 Confucius classrooms spread across 162 countries. Until 2020, India had a total of 7 Confucius Institutes/classrooms and 54 agreements between Indian and Chinese universities to engage in education and culture exchange.
Indian Educational Institutions Having MoUs with Chinese Institutions
Confucius Institutes (Planned or Actual)
Sister city agreements have their roots in the past, of cities with shared history intertwining with each other. Take the sister cities of Mumbai and Shanghai. They share a common colonial heritage. Pioneering merchants from Mumbai, predominantly Parsis and Baghdadi Jews, settled along the banks of the Huangpu River, significantly shaping the early financial, social, and cultural landscape of Shanghai. Kolkata and Kunming share more than just the initial letters of their names. Kolkata serves as the commercial, educational, and cultural hub of eastern India, while Kunming holds a similar status in southwest China. Both cities are vital trade centers, yet they possess distinct differences. Bangalore, known as the "Silicon Valley of India," is similar to Chengdu, which is China's "Software City", and was among the first set of sister cities between India and China.
India and China Signing Sister City Agreements
Perhaps the most significant Sino-Indian sister-city relationship is between the capitals of both countries, Beijing and New Delhi which was established in 2013. The Agreement of Promoting Cooperation and Relation between Provinces (States) and Municipalities of China and India was signed in 2013, declaring the capitals as sister cities. These engagements were expanded to more cities and states in the subsequent years, like between Mumbai and Shanghai and Guangzhou and Ahmedabad in 2014. In 2015, Dunhuang and Aurangabad, Chongqing and Chennai, Qingdao and Hyderabad signed sister city agreements and by 2017, Wenzhou and Lucknow and Jinan and Nagpur joined the list of Indian and Chinese cities participating in the initiative.
Objective
But why have Confucius Institutes and sister cities in the first place? Confucius Institutes were the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) main vector of cultural diplomacy to promote a friendly and benign image of China in foreign countries. The favorable public and elite perceptions of China would translate into a relaxed policy environment for China to pursue investment and influence operations. Li Changchun, a Politburo Standing Committee member of the CCP, head of the Party’s propaganda department between 2002 and 2012, revealed the purpose of Confucius Institutes as ‘an important channel to glorify Chinese culture, to help Chinese culture spread to the world’.
The Sister City Agreements claimed to leverage partnerships and arrangements between sister cities and states to attract investments, foster urban development ideas, and explore markets for local products and businesses. China and India pushed for these agreements to stimulate trade, build public-private partnerships and exchange and access expertise and knowledge in economic, cultural, and diplomatic domains.
Confucius Institutes and sister city agreements can be classified under exchange diplomacy measures. Over the past two decades, China has actively engaged in exchange diplomacy to strengthen connections between its populace and foreign communities, with the aim of shaping the global narrative in its favour. These exchange initiatives seek to forge personal connections "to foster trust and cultivate a group of individuals who willingly embrace China's principles and beliefs across political, social, economic, and foreign policy domains."
Progress
By 2020, before Confucius Institutes and Sister City Agreements with China came under scrutiny in India, there was a modest number of Confucius Institutes and Sister City Agreements between India and China. Confucius Institutes were established in Mumbai University and Vellore Institute of Technology, while five other universities have also collaborated with Chinese universities to promote the Chinese language and culture. However, the Chinese language and culture collaborations have been halted due to geopolitical factors, and existing Confucius Institutes have been scaled down or shut down.
With respect to sister cities, most major cities in India have signed sister city agreements with Chinese cities. By 2018, this engagement was expanding to include Tier 2 cities and sister state agreements as well. Sister City Agreements have rarely materialized into formal collaborations between municipal governments, in most cases. However, there have been a handful of visits by municipal officials from India and China to businesses, industrial parks, cultural spaces and administrative centres in the partner country.
Sister City Agreements
For instance, Beijing and Delhi have engaged in exchanges and collaboration, particularly in the field of municipal sanitation. In November 2018, five municipal management officials from Delhi visited Beijing to participate in a solid waste management exchange project as part of the sister city initiative. In the case of Bangalore and Chengdu, Wipro, a major Indian software company headquartered in Bangalore, established an R&D center in Chengdu to leverage talent in Bangalore’s sister city.
Chennai-Chongqing Sister City Agreement
Downfall
There has been severe global backlash against China’s influence operations and public diplomacy efforts like Confucius Institutes and Sister City Agreements. A public opinion survey conducted in the US and European countries shows that unfavorable perceptions of China soared to all-time highs after the COVID-19 pandemic. Combined with reports that Confucius Institutes were state-led influence operations, countries like US and others in Europe began to end their partnerships with Confucius Institutes and the Sister City Agreements.
Following the Galwan clash between India and China in 2020, the Indian government acted on reports of Chinese influence operations targeting Indian academia and civil society, conducted via Confucius Institutes. A review of the activities of 7 Confucius Institutes and 54 MoU’s on inter-school cooperation was concluded in 2022 with the government mandating a FCRA clearance for Universities with existing or planned Confucius Institutes or cultural ventures with China. In the case of Sister City Agreements, collaborations have stalled between municipal governments after the bilateral relationship at the highest levels broke down in the wake of the Doklam and Galwan clashes.
Both Confucius Institutes and Sister City Agreements were significant opportunities to develop new channels of cultural exchange in the contemporary era. However, they have failed to further the civilizational and cultural dialogue between India and China. Their failure stems from the geopolitics of India-China relations and broader political and strategic realities, which at times override the cultural significance of diplomatic and foreign policy ventures.
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