China’s influence increasingly threatens the academic world in Brazil. In recent years, the country’s main higher education institutions, such as the State University of Campinas (Unicamp) and the Federal University of Minas Gerais (UFMG), have established partnerships with Chinese institutions at an ever-increasing rate. Experts warn of the risks of this growing soft power that Beijing uses to promote the Chinese model.
“China’s influence on Brazilian universities has never been greater,” journalist Gabriel de Arruda Castro, editor of Brazilian daily Gazeta do Povo, told Diálogo. “Obviously, this opens the door to the presence of representatives of an authoritarian regime, which is not the case when Brazil establishes academic partnerships with countries like Germany or France.”
In January 2023, Castro published an article in Gazeta do Povo, highlighting China’s growing influence on Brazilian universities. “Since then, this influence has even increased,” he says. “Institutions like the University of Brasilia (UnB) and the Federal University of Santa Maria have signed other partnerships or strengthened the partnerships they already had [with Chinese institutions].”
Although agreements between Brazilian and foreign universities are common, Castro points out that these countries respect the independence and academic autonomy of their teaching centers. Chinese universities, on the other hand, are subject to the strict control of the Beijing government. “From the point of view of the Chinese regime, it doesn’t make any sense to fund any project that might be critical of the Chinese model,” says Castro.
Silent threat in Brazil
China’s soft power has also been expanding in universities worldwide. The difference is that in Brazil it grows silently, while in other countries it is cause for concern, Castro says.
In England, for example, a recent Channel 4 documentary indicated that local universities have suffered from “Chinese state interference” and “repression of dissidents on English soil.” “Beijing is increasingly targeting university campuses to exert strong influence around the world,” says a 2023 report by U.S. think tank Council on Foreign Relations.
In Brazil, on the other hand, Chinese influence is seemingly growing unimpeded within university walls, Castro says. “There is no debate in Brazil about the risks of opening the doors, without much care, to a regime that is authoritarian and has a habit of promoting espionage,” Castro says. “Nobody is worrying about this in Brazil.”
Confucius Institute
Part of the Chinese influence in Brazilian universities is exerted through partnerships with the Confucius Institute, an entity linked to the Chinese Ministry of Education, whose official mission is to spread Chinese culture and language.
With branches in more than 150 countries, the Confucius Institute says on its website that the partnerships are “based on the principles of mutual respect, friendly consultation, equality, and mutual benefit.” But the organization has been criticized in several countries for undermining academic freedom at host universities, practicing industrial and military espionage, and promoting the Chinese regime’s views on issues such as Taiwan.
On August 13, 2020, the U.S. State Department designated the Confucius Institute as a “foreign mission” of China, noting that it promotes “Beijing’s global propaganda and malign influence campaign” in classrooms. “Confucius Institutes are funded by the People’s Republic of China and are part of the Chinese Communist Party’s global influence and propaganda apparatus,” the U.S. State Department said in a statement.
In 2023, Germany’s Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution (BfV) called the Confucius Institute a tool of political influence. “China’s activities and forms of cooperation threaten to undermine academic freedom in the field of education and research,” the BfV said in its annual report, German news agency Deutsche Welle reported.
Meanwhile, in Brazil, the Confucius Institute is expanding at a rapid pace. Today, 13 Brazilian universities have branches of the organization. The most recent was set up in September 2023 at the Federal University of Bahia (UFBA), through an agreement with Shanghai University.
According to the UFBA website, there are also branches of the Confucius Institute at Fluminense Federal University, Paulista State University, Unicamp, UNB, UFMG, Rio Grande do Sul Federal University, Pernambuco University, Ceará Federal University, Pará State University (UEPA), Armando Alvares Penteado Foundation, Pontifical Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro, and Goiás Federal University.
Castro says that partnerships with the Confucius Institute generally don’t involve China sending funds directly to the universities. Beijing only pays Mandarin teachers in existing physical spaces. Universities don’t profit financially from the partnerships but benefit from closer ties with China.
“Obviously, the official view of the regime is not challenged in these cases. The promotion of Chinese culture is therefore mixed with the promotion of the Chinese regime,” says Castro. “In my research, I didn’t find any perspective critical of China.”
Often, the result of these partnerships is the exaltation of the Chinese model in Brazilian colleges. The Federal University of Santa Catarina and UEPA, for example, offered in recent years the online course “China, 1949-2025: from a very Poor Country to the World’s Largest Economy.” The program included topics such as Russian Aid, 100 Years of the Chinese Communist Party, Chinese Socialism, and scholarships in China, according to the universities’ websites.
Technological partnerships
Another form of Chinese influence on Brazilian universities is technological innovation partnerships in areas such as agriculture. “These are areas that require financial investment, and public universities in Brazil don’t always have this capacity. So, China steps in by helping to finance laboratories, for example, considering Brazil’s importance as an exporter of agricultural commodities,” says Castro.
He believes there may be a risk of espionage by China in these initiatives. “Perhaps because it is not perceived as a direct adversary of China, Brazil has a little less of this aspect [of espionage]. But perhaps there is ‘soft espionage’ here: knowing where Brazil stands in certain areas of knowledge, in order to later use this as a strategic advantage in a possible competition in some area or to offer solutions,” he says.
“This is more or less what it [China] does in Africa by other means. In other words: meeting local demand pragmatically at first, but making these countries increasingly dependent on China,” Castro added.
“Before entering partnerships, including those involving financial resources, with authoritarian foreign regimes such as China, our researchers should be a little more careful. The same should be done by the governments, which are almost always those who support these universities,” Castro concluded.
