Taiwan’s government says it plans to establish an additional 29 Mandarin language centers overseas in the coming year. The Overseas Community Affairs Council (OCAC) says it set up 18 Taiwan Centers for Mandarin Learning last year, and hopes to expand the program further in 2022.
The OCAC says the program’s aim is to expand the overseas Mandarin learning market, particularly for adult learners.
Taiwan’s push to promote its Mandarin language centers comes as the United States attempts to reduce its reliance on Chinese language institutions, such as the Confucius Institute.
In December 2020, Taiwan and the United States signed the US-Taiwan Education Initiative. The initiative aims to expand access to Chinese and English language instruction, while “safeguarding academic freedom”.
The director of the American Institute in Taiwan at the time, Brett Christensen, said that Confucius Institutes play a role in “censorship and malign influence campaigns by the People’s Republic of China”.
The large majority of the Taiwan Centers for Mandarin Learning established so far are based in the United States. Other host countries include the United Kingdom, France and Germany.