UK expected to stop funding Chinese state-linked Mandarin teaching schools

Secretive visa scheme has been used to fast-track Chinese staff to promote Communist party values at Confucius Institutes

UK government funding for Mandarin teaching at branches of the Chinese state-linked Confucius Institute is to be axed, but they will not be closed, as Rishi Sunak promised last year.

The step is expected to be announced by James Cleverly, the foreign secretary, on Tuesday and comes as research shows that a secretive visa scheme has been used to fast-track Chinese government-vetted staff to come to the UK to promote Chinese Communist party (CCP) values at the institutes.