The story of the creation of the Institute of China and Modern Asia of the Russian Academy of Sciences (ICSA laboratory) to study the ideas of Xi Jinping, which was told by the Cheka-OGPU, was further developed. After the scandal, ICSA director Babaev backed down. Compared to the previous loud statement, done to the Chinese Xinhua Agency, another one was posted on the ICSA website information . And this is no longer a laboratory “for studying the ideas of Chinese President Xi Jinping,” but a laboratory “Modern ideology of the PRC.” And not as part of ICSA, and “the laboratory is not a structural unit of ICSA RAS.” And not “over a long period of time,” but a “temporary research team” to write a book in 2025. Moreover, the laboratory “is financed from extra-budgetary funds of the ICSA RAS and does not provide for external funding.” And the cherry on this quasi-scientific cake is that the laboratory is headed personally by Babaev, who learned about China after his appointment by the Ministry of Education and Science as director of ICSA in 2021. Professional orientalists say that studying the ideas of political leaders of different countries is a common practice; responsible structures have always been involved in this. The conflict arose because Babaev, instead of serious scientific work, staged an amateur show with himself at the helm, in the process, in the political discourse, framing the Presidential Administration, the Russian Academy of Sciences and other organizations, as well as Xinhua, for the fact that the information was unreliably provided to the agency. As for finances, old-time sinologists recall how, already under the director, Academician Titarenko, the Chinese helped solve current issues, coming with “envelopes.” No one saw the “extrabudgetary funds,” but the recipients are confident that our friends, the forever Chinese, will not let you down this time. Why is this so? Yes, because the Ministry of Education and Science does not figure out how budget money is spent, where extra-budgetary money comes from and to whom it goes
“ВЧК ОГПУ”
