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Not any time soon.

To be considered literate in the language, a Chinese must have access to (immediately read, write, and use properly) some 10,000 individual characters and be able to at least recognize some 40,000 more. This primarily because Chinese characters are ideographs with each symbol or combination of symbols representing a specific word. In a crude way, one might say that the 10,000 plus 40,000 requirement represents a literate person's multi-thousand word vocabulary

By contrast, Western languages are constructed with phonemes - symbols meaning sounds. You can construct the equivalent of the Chinese 50,000 character vocabulary using a small number of letters. You only have to learn them and the rules on how they are pronounced when strung together to imitate the sound of a Western language, such as English. In fact, this is done all the time by singers desiring to sing in a Western language they do not speak. The reverse is not possible. There is simply no way to sound out a Chinese character. You either know it or you don't.

During the late 19th and first part of the 20th century, various systems for "alphabetizing" Chinese were proposed (Pin Yin, Wade-Giles, etc.) to make educating the illiterate mass of Chinese peasants easier. The alphabetization systems mentioned are used to instruct non-Chinese Western students studying the language. However, none was successfully adopted by the Chinese themselves who, understandably, have a very strong cultural attachment to their ideographs.

It may be stylish or trendy to learn these languages but if you don't subsequently use them, they will largely pass out of memory. Mine (Spanish and Chinese) certainly have.

I note in passing that English, however humorously fractured, is the language of the Internet, not Chinese. In fact, the Japanese (who have two indigenous alphabetization systems to aid in learning Japanese and incorporating foreign words into their language)have lately intensified their efforts to increase real literacy not in Chinese but in English.

The Chinese don't need any more Chinese speakers, there are already 1.3 billion of them in China. If they NEED someone fluent in both Chinese and the local language, it is far easier to teach a smart, young, literate Chinese the local language. IMHO, the Confucius Institute probably functions as a front for their intelligence services to initially identify and recruit sympathetic individuals for exploitation as local agents.

You make important points. Using ideograms can be a disadvantage. They will need to integrate alphabetic signs to a significant extent.

About the risk that cultural institution can be used for spying it is a universal thing - many countries do it. Still, I think that this specific program has more important strategic and long distance purpose - the promotion of Chinese culture and system of values. Language is the logical first step.

You cannot be a great power by economy or military only.