Canadian University To Close Confucius Institute

McMaster University will be closing the Confucius Institute that it has hosted since 2008.

Sonia Zhao gives a speech about the persecution of Falun Gong in China at a rally in Toronto in August 2011. Zhao, a former instructor at the Confucius Institute at McMaster University, had to sign a statement promising not to practice Falun Gong when she was in China before joining the institute. McMaster has now decided to close the institute over concerns about its hiring practices. Gordon Yu/The Epoch Times

McMaster University has decided to close the Confucius Institute that it has hosted since 2008, the Hamilton, Ontario-based university announced Feb 7.

The decision was made because of the hiring practices of the Beijing-linked Confucius Institute (CI), which recruits its instructors in China.