The Trump administration¡¯s intervention in international research partnerships has highlighted inconsistencies in Canberra¡¯s management of foreign influence, with no sign that the US will be treated with the same risk-aversion that preceded the closure of half of Australian universities¡¯ Confucius Institutes.

The ABC has that six Confucius Institutes have shut since the 2020 passage of the Foreign Relations Act, which empowers the foreign affairs minister to veto universities¡¯ overseas partnerships.

The act requires public universities to notify the minister of any deal with ¡°a foreign university that does not have institutional autonomy¡± because ¡°a foreign government is in a position to exercise substantial control¡±.

In 2022 the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security, chaired by Liberal senator James Paterson, urged the minister to use the veto powers ¡°in relation to Confucius Institutes¡±. At the time, Paterson told that universities should ensure that any arrangements with Confucius Institutes did not compromise their autonomy or academic freedom.

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¡°Universities need to be much more discerning,¡± he said. ¡°Do they really want to be party to a soft power exercise for a foreign authoritarian government?¡±

Last month at least seven Australian universities, including some of the institutions that have shuttered their Confucius Institutes, reportedly had US research contracts suspended as American officials sought assurances that the work would not contribute to causes proscribed by the Trump administration including ¡°environmental justice¡± and ¡°gender ideology extremism¡±.

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A US Office of Management and Budget memo also asked whether Australian research partners or their institutions had received funding from China, including Confucius Institutes, and how the research would assist in ¡°increasing American influence¡±.

James Laurenceson, director of the Australia-China Relations Institute at the University of Technology Sydney (UTS), said the Trump administration had ¡°torn up research funding agreements¡­based on a perceived lack of adherence to its political views¡±.

¡°Imagine if Chinese and Australian university researchers were sent letters from China¡¯s Ministry of Education demanding answers about their institutions¡¯ international links and their own personal political views, alongside a threat to cut their funding if they¡­gave an ¡®incorrect¡¯ answer. Would Canberra consider this a breach of the academic freedom that the Foreign Arrangements Act is designed to monitor?

¡°Local universities will reasonably be wanting Canberra¡¯s guidance on whether their US arrangements now need to be registered. If [not]¡­the basis of that assessment ought to be explained. Otherwise, Australian universities might be accused of applying double standards.¡±

The office of foreign affairs minister Penny Wong would not say whether Australian universities¡¯ US partnerships should be registered. But Wong told the ABC that universities and researchers needed to ¡°recognise that we live in a different world¡±.

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Paterson¡¯s office did not respond when asked whether Australian universities should now register their research partnerships with American partners.

Education minister Jason Clare that the US intervention did not constitute foreign interference. ¡°Ultimately, the US will make their own decisions about the research that they want to fund,¡± he said.

While Australia¡¯s Confucius Institutes have attracted plenty of criticism, there is no indication that any have been forcibly closed. The University of Melbourne said it had a ¡°multitude of Chinese language and Asia capability programmes¡± and saw no need to renew its Confucius Institute when the contract expired last August.

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The University of Queensland said its institute had closed when the contract expired at the end of last year. UNSW Sydney said its agreement had lapsed in 2022 and ¡°was not renewed due to Covid-19¡±. The University of Western Australia said its institute had ceased operating in 2023 following Covid-related disruptions.

RMIT University also cited Covid budget pressures for the closure of its institute in 2021. The University of Adelaide would not confirm whether it had renewed its Confucius Institute contract.

While Clare said US research contract suspensions had affected at least seven Australian universities, most have remained tight-lipped about their involvement. UTS has been an exception, saying two projects involving its Institute for Sustainable Futures ¡°stopped work¡± at the request of US Aid.

The Australian National University has also confirmed the termination of one of its 16 funded American research contracts. The Australian Financial Review that it was a A$923,000 grant to investigate violence and terrorism.

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Clare said the Australian Embassy in Washington was ¡°working with US departments to get a better understanding¡± of the contract suspensions. ¡°We expect that the outcomes of that review that the US has initiated will be clearer in the second half of April,¡± he told the ABC. ¡°We think it¡¯s worth working with Australia because we¡¯ve got great universities.¡±

john.ross@timeshighereducation.com