Chinese professor accused of spying by Belgium, barred from entering Schengen Area

Security services in Brussels say Song Xinning, former head of Confucius Institute at Vrije Universiteit Brussel, worked as a recruiter for Chinese intelligence

Academic, who has been banned from 26-nation free-travel zone for eight years, says he was contacted by US envoy who asked him to ‘cooperate’ with the Americans

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Song Xinning, a former director of the Confucius Institute in Brussels, denies supporting Chinese intelligence activities in the city. Photo: Doris Liu

Kinling Lo,Simone McCarthy,Stuart LauandKeegan Elmer

Published: 10:47pm, 30 Oct 2019Updated: 3:49pm, 31 Oct 2019

A Chinese professor who headed a Confucius Institute in Brussels has been barred from entering the Schengen Area for eight years after being accused of espionage, amid growing scrutiny of the Beijing-run cultural offices that have been established at universities around the world.

Song Xinning, former director of the institute at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB), said he had been accused by authorities in Belgium of supporting Chinese intelligence activities in the city – an accusation he denied.

The Schengen Area comprises 26 European countries that have abolished passport and other types of controls at their mutual borders.

The Belgian newspaper De Morgen reported on Tuesday that VUB had ignored a warning from the State Security Service about the institute’s activities. The article said also that Song had acted as a recruiter for Chinese intelligence services and hired informants from the Chinese student and business communities in Belgium.

The Belgian government did not immediately reply to requests for comment.

Professor Song Xinning says he finds the accusation that he was a spy “very laughable”. Photo: Handout

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