A DUTCH INSTITUTE IN BEIJING

DUTCH SINOLOGY STUDENTS CAN SOON LEARN CHINESE IN BEIJING

During his visit to China in the middle of August, the Dutch
Minister of Education and Sciences, Ritzen proposed opening a Dutch
Institute in Beijing, which would be administered by Leiden
University. The Institute would be able to aid both Chinese
academics planning to carry out research in the Netherlands and
Dutch scholars working in China. In order to work out this plan in
more detail, this week a two-man delegation from Leiden left for
Beijing.

STRENGTHENING SCIENTIFIC TIES WITH CHINA

A Dutch Institute in Beijing fits in with the plan to strengthen
scientific ties with China, in connection with which Ritzen signed
four agreements in the Chinese capital. Such a bridge between Dutch
and Chinese scholars cannot but considerably reinforce the Dutch
academic presence in the largest country in Asia. Ad hoc
arrangements make way for a recognized channel for contacts. For
Leiden, appointed to administer the plan on behalf of Utrecht,
Groningen, and Amsterdam, the institute will facilitate existing
contacts with the University of Beijing. At this moment Leiden is
already administering two institutes abroad on behalf of the
Netherlands, namely the Japan-Netherlands Institute in Tokyo and
the Netherlands Institute for Archaeology and Arabic Studies in
Cairo.
According to Drs. W. Teller, director of the Foreign Bureau of
Leiden University, an institute in Beijing does more than just
provide good access for Dutch academics wanting to do research in
China. It would also be able to provide crash courses on Dutch
customs and culture for Chinese researchers planning to spend some
time in the Netherlands. Furthermore, an institute in Beijing would
make it possible to send undergraduates in Sinology to China for
one semester of language tuition. Students of Arabic, who are
required to spend one semester after their preliminary examination
in Cairo, gain a great deal of benefit from a half year's language
study on the spot, says Teller. 'In their fluency they are
demonstrably further ahead than after a semester in Leiden'.

EASY DOES IT

So far the Chinese side have reacted to the proposal with caution.
Evidently the Chinese want more reassurance that a Dutch Institute
in Beijing will concern itself soley with promoting scientific
contacts. Teller: 'There is a certain degree of anxiety that you
are going to propagate your culture - as the French do. This is
still an extremely sensitive issue. But we want to be neutral and
restrict ourselves to science'.
A second problem is that from the point of view of the Chinese
bureaucracy, formally the institute must fall under the aegis of,
for instance, the embassy (as do the institutes of France and
Italy), or be the guest of a Chinese research centre. Teller,
however, thinks this is just 'a matter of red stamps'. He says that
his visit in the company of the Leiden professor Dr J. Liang is
above all a logistical operation. Minister Ritzen is prepared to
provide half of the five to six hundred thousand guilder budget
estimated to be needed annually to finance the institute for three
years. The Royal Dutch Academy of Arts and Sciences (KNAW) and
Leiden University are prepared to shoulder the other half of the
amount. In Beijng, Teller and Liang will investigate if this sum is
sufficient to pay for Chinese secretarial help, office space, and
similar requirements. Says Teller optimistically: 'If we don't
succeed in finding a building before the scheduled opening date on
1 January, 1994, then the director can at least have a desk in the
Dutch embassy'.
The majority of the joint projects between China and the
Netherlands, annually amounting to between thirty to forty, are
concerned with research in the fields of Oceanology, Botany,
Medicine, Sinology, Earth Sciences, and History. These existing
contacts will be the most important supports in the setting up of
the institute. The Flemish universities of Louvain and Ghent will
also be asked if they are interested in the Dutch Institute.
(Source: Mare 17-2)