From Soft Power to Soft Exit: Why 6 Australian Universities Shut the Door on CCP-Backed Confucius Classrooms

6 out of 13 Confucius Institutes in Australia have closed after the CCP deployed the program across Australian universities about 20 years.

Students seen at the University of Newcastle's Callaghan campus in New South Wales, Australia on March 24, 2025. Roni Bintang/Getty Images

The Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) efforts to infiltrate and exert soft power on Australia’s academic system is losing steam after six major universities quietly shut down their Confucius Institutes.

This comes as Western democracies, including Australia, become increasingly alert to the CCP’s tactics to influence young, impressionable minds with socialist ideology.