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Lecture hall of the University of Duisburg-Essen (symbol picture)
Photo: Rolf Vennenbernd / picture alliance / dpa
An initially canceled reading from a biography about the Chinese head of state Xi Jinping in Duisburg is now taking place.
The online event will be held this Wednesday evening as planned, but not by the Confucius Institute at the University of Duisburg-Essen, but by the University's East Asia Institute itself, said a spokeswoman for the university on Tuesday.
The university will put the dial-in link on the university website.
The readings planned at the same time at the Confucius Institutes in Duisburg and Hanover had previously been canceled - apparently after influence from China.
"Our cooperation university in Wuhan kindly explained to us that they would not think it would be a good idea if we hold the event," said one of the three directors of the Duisburg Confucius Institute, Markus Taube.
The process had caused sharp criticism.
"The freedom of research and teaching is not negotiable," the Duisburg University Rector Ulrich Radtke emphasized in a statement on Monday.
The authors of the book "Xi Jinping - the most powerful man in the world" are Stefan Aust, former editor-in-chief of SPIEGEL and today publisher of "Welt", and the long-time China correspondent Adrian Geiges.
According to the publisher, the biography was published on July 1 of this year.
Confucius Institutes are intended to promote cultural exchange and make Chinese culture and language accessible abroad.
However, human rights activists see them as a propaganda and espionage instrument of the Communist Party.
Despite massive criticism, many German universities are still working with the institutes.
The rejection is the first case of influence in Duisburg, said the spokeswoman for the university.
kfr / dpa
