On December 10, 2019, during the International Chinese Language Education Conference, Ma Jiefei, then Party Secretary and Deputy Director General of the Confucius Institute Headquarters, and Fr. Joel Eduque Tabora, then President of Ateneo de Davao University, signed an agreement to jointly establish a Confucius Institute. According to the agreement, the Confucius Institute at Ateneo de Davao University would be co-founded by Huaqiao University, China, and Ateneo de Davao University, Philippines. Tian Xuejun, then Vice Minister of Education, presented the official plaque for the Confucius Institute and, together with Yu Yunfeng, then Deputy Director General of the Confucius Institute Headquarters, and Zeng Lu, then Vice President of Huaqiao University, witnessed the signing ceremony, officially announcing the establishment of the Confucius Institute at Ateneo de Davao University. On December 17, 2019, Zeng Lu, then Vice President of Huaqiao University, led a delegation from Huaqiao University to Davao, where the two universities signed the Confucius Institute Executive Agreement, marking the beginning of operations for the Confucius Institute at Ateneo de Davao University.