By Jeffrey Gil

In late 2004, the world's first Confucius Institute opened in Seoul, South Korea.

Confucius Institutes are Chinese language and culture institutions most often set up through partnerships between China's National Office for Teaching Chinese as a Foreign Language (Hanban), a Chinese university and a university in the host country. They offer services such as Chinese language teaching, teacher training, proficiency testing and assistance for arranging academic study in China.

Since 2004, Confucius Institutes have spread around the world, with almost 300 now existing in North America, South America, Europe, Asia, Africa and Oceania, in addition to an online and a radio-based Confucius Institute.

Confucius Institutes are a core component of China's soft power strategy, or campaign to increase its influence and accomplish its goals through the appeal of its language and culture.

How successful has this been?

A review of recent events in China's relationships with countries that have Confucius Institutes suggests they have no discernable influence on China's ability to achieve its key goals within these relationships.

In Australia, for example, a country upon which China relies heavily on for the natural resources it requires to continue its economic development, the presence of Confucius Institutes did not prevent the government from placing strict conditions on Chinese investment in Australian resources companies.

The cooperation of the United States, the other superpower, is vital for China to achieve all of its goals, not the least of which is the isolation of Taiwan, yet the United States has not ceased its support for Taiwan despite having in excess of 50 Confucius Institutes.

Neither have the Confucius Institutes resolved difficult issues in China's relationship with Japan. Territorial disputes over the East China Sea and Diaoyu/Senkaku Islands for example remain as contentious as ever, which suggests China's goal of maintaining a peaceful international environment, particularly with its neighbouring countries, in which it can pursue its development has not been furthered by the Confucius Institutes in this instance.

This apparent lack of influence on achieving policy outcomes favourable to China raises another question: Why would China invest so much in establishing a global network of Confucius Institutes for so little return?

It is likely China sees the Confucius Institute project as a long-term strategy which will pay dividends in the future. Learning the Chinese language encourages the understanding of Chinese customs, culture, viewpoints and attitudes, meaning students of the language could well finish their studies with greater sympathy toward China and its goals in world affairs. This is of course useful in and of itself but the potential benefits of the Confucius Institute project extend well beyond this ― some Chinese language students could go on to be in positions where they can affect policy towards China, such as ambassadors, ministers or advisors.

By making opportunities to learn Chinese more visible and accessible worldwide through its Confucius Institutes, China has effectively increased the chances of this occurring. Indeed, the figures tell an impressive story. Chinese Education Minister Zhou Ji recently told the People's Daily Online that Confucius Institutes had so far held 6,000 classes for over 120,000 learners and 2,000 cultural activities for more than one million people. Another report from the same source says that the radio-based and online Confucius Institutes have created opportunities for Chinese language learning in 149 countries.

Although it is still early days for the Confucius Institute project, and the dual effect of fostering positive attitudes toward China and influencing policy outcomes may not ever materialise, it is clear that what began in Seoul just a few short years ago has since morphed into a global phenomenon which will require the attention of all those interested in international politics and China's interaction with the world.

The writer is a lecturer in the Department of Language Studies at Flinders University, Adelaide, Australia. He is currently working on a research project about China's Confucius Institutes. He can be contacted via email: Jeffrey.Gil@flinders.edu.au.