On the 26th of October members of the committee for Students for a Free Tibet UCT met with UCT executives to discuss our concerns. We established that the CI's courses are not credit-bearing at UCT, which is a comfort in some senses. However they do still give conversational classes, host cultural activities and sponsor trips and events which means our concerns are still relevant. UCT is planning on renewing their 5 year contract with the Confucius Institute in the next few weeks. It is vital that we ensure UCT properly considers the remaining issues before renewing their contract. The following concerns still exist: We were given a copy of the agreement between UCT and the Confucius Institute to read. The agreement is said to be according to the “Constitution and by-laws of Confucius Institutes”. The constitution and by-laws explicitly states in chapter 1: "2. This Constitution and By-Laws is applicable to all Confucius Institutes worldwide." and "6. The Confucius Institutes shall abide by the laws and regulations of the countries in which they are located, respect local cultural and educational traditions and social customs, and they shall not contravene concerning the laws and regulations of China." In addition, the Hanban official document says: “All CI teachers abroad are under direct control of the local Chinese Embassy and consulates.” This proves that, regardless of any arguments for UCT's independence, the Chinese government has control over the Confucius Institute operating at UCT. It proves that the CI is subject to Chinese law, which is in conflict with the South African constitution. Below are other concerns that we still have after our meeting: • The Headquarters provides all teachers, training and materials thus UCT is unlikely to be sure that the content is not problematic. • The Headquarters is also responsible for training the teachers, thus although UCT can check that they are qualified, it is unlikely that UCT will be aware of any unacceptable training they have received (for example, an instruction not to bring up topics that the Chinese government doesn’t want to discuss). • It is highly concerning that in our meeting it was acknowledged that some of teachers and students are likely to be spies. • The following agreements still need to be accessed and checked: - Volunteers’ contracts with the Hanban (to be translated) - UCT and Sun Yat-sen University’s supplementary agreement on the details of cooperation We have asked UCT to address these concerns and provide us with the aforementioned agreements to look into, as agreed. It is evident that there are serious issues even without the additional agreements. We implore UCT to look into the integrity of the Confucius Institute before renewing their agreement. We have offered resources and contacts for UCT to make use of should they want to know more, so there is no excuse for UCT to overlook this. We thank you for your signing the petition, sharing the petition and for your continued support! You are standing up for a global cause that is bigger than we could know.