China Warns of Dire Albeit Unspecified Consequences Should the Toronto District School Board Renege on Its Confucius Institute Deal

Parents with kids in Toronto public schools are balking at a deal which would insert the Communist government's Confucius Institute into the TDSB system, and school trustees are finally paying attention to them. Now an obviously irate China is laying down the law:

“If the Confucius Institute in Toronto was suspended, there would be a great damage to the relationship between the two sides, which is hard for us to accept,” reads one of two nearly identical June 17 letters from Chinese government officials. 

The letters obtained by The Globe and Mail contain some of the same wording and were sent by the Hunan Provincial Department of Education and the Confucius Institute Headquarters in Beijing. 

The Department of Education letter points out that Chinese officials have gone to great lengths to pick the right people for the Toronto facility. “We elaborately selected a director as well as skilled teachers and volunteers from schools and colleges throughout Hunan Province,” the letter says. “They are prepared and invested a lot for working in Canada.”

Wow, that sounds so selfless and altruistic, doesn't it? It begs the question, though: Why would the Chinese go to so much trouble for little old us if they didn't think it was going to pay off for them--big time?