China’s Education Diplomacy in Latin America

A few months ago, Argentina’s Salta province signed an agreement with Tsingshan, a Chinese nickel company, to send five Argentine students per year to study mining-related fields in China. Though the agreement reflects Tsingshan’s business interests in Argentina’s abundant critical minerals, the deal was typical of China’s growing education diplomacy in Latin America and the Caribbean.

For over a decade, observers of Beijing’s soft power strategy have focused on China’s Confucius Institutes, including 44 in Latin America and the Caribbean, and its Confucius classrooms, which partner with primary and secondary schools. But these are the tip of the iceberg. Indeed, China’s educational partnerships in the region–including through institutional arrangements, scholarship programs, research support, company initiatives, and other platforms–number in the thousands.

China’s educational partnerships in the region–including through institutional arrangements, scholarship programs, research support, company initiatives, and other platforms–number in the thousands.”

Beijing established many of these over the past decade, as educational institutions from across China and of varied sizes and backgrounds–including liberal arts, technical, and vocational programs–cultivated overseas partnerships to open training programs, offer scholarships, establish research collaborations and exchange programs, and even develop overseas research centers.

Sometimes, these arrangements are initiated by Latin American and Caribbean institutions. Peru’s ESAN Graduate School of Business, for example, developed a partnership with Fudan University and the Mexican Agency for International Cooperation and Development designed the NANOMXCN Congress to bring together specialists on nanotechnology from Mexico and China. Those institutions and individuals partnering with China are generally pursuing opportunities to grow educational and research offerings, to study Chinese, and to travel to China.

For Chinese institutions, meanwhile, there are many motivations for expanding educational ties in the region. As Ricardo Barrios, Guo Cunhai, and I noted in a 2018 Inter-American Dialogue report, for more than a decade, the government has encouraged China’s universities to establish ties in the region to improve their Latin American studies programs. As a result, China had established nearly 60 centers focused on Latin America by 2018, including many with regional partners.

There is also a commercial component to many of these agreements, such as the Salta partnership. Though China has signed educational agreements in nearly all conceivable sectors, it has focused primarily on strategic industries such as mining and minerals, biotechnology, biomedicine, information and communication technology, petroleum, and space research.

Not surprisingly, given the structure of China-South America trade, agriculture is another priority for Chinese universities seeking regional relationships.” 

Not surprisingly, given the structure of China-South America trade, agriculture is another priority for Chinese universities seeking regional relationships. Three years ago, for example, the South China Agricultural University, in partnership with dozens of Chinese and Latin American universities, set up the China-Latin America Agricultural Education and Research Innovation Alliance.

As Florida International University’s Brian Fonseca has observed, some of these partnerships, especially in the information and communication technology industry, both cultivate talent and ensure broader adoption of Chinese technological standards. Huawei’s Seeds for the Future program is a prominent example, providing training for the “specialists of the future” in China’s technology ecosystem. “”

China’s educational outreach also advances diplomatic objectives. Tsinghua University Professor Wen Wen has noted China’s historical interest in academic exchanges, explaining that in the 1950s, China sought to train foreign students to “know China,” “be friendly toward China,” and “love China.” Post-Mao, as China modernized its education system, it saw new opportunities to use educational partnerships to pursue diplomatic goals, according to Frederico Menino, formerly of the Tsinghua University-based Schwarzman Scholars Program.

By attracting top-quality international students, China is competing to be a central player in the global knowledge economy, alongside the United States, Japan, and Europe.”

In 2017, China released President Xi Jinping’s Double First-Class University Plan, which aimed to build world-class Chinese universities by 2050. By attracting top-quality international students, China is competing to be a central player in the global knowledge economy, alongside the United States, Japan, and Europe. According to the People’s Daily, the plan supports the upgrading of 100 disciplines related to national security and vital interests, as well as emerging and interdisciplinary subjects.

Xi has also prioritized international educational partnerships though a relatively decentralized system. In Latin America, agreements have involved Chinese provinces, cities, universities, and companies eager to highlight their strengths or address their weaknesses in partnership with regional institutions. Some agreements are little more than a statement of shared interest in cooperation. Others pursue an expansive agenda, including collaborative research and research center development.

The trend is clear, however, toward more and deeper international educational ties.