The Trump Administration has made it a priority to seek fair and reciprocal treatment from the People’s Republic of China. For more than four decades, Beijing has enjoyed free and open access to U.S. society, while denying that same access to Americans and other foreigners in China. Furthermore, the PRC has taken advantage of America’s openness to undertake large scale and well-funded propaganda efforts and influence operations in this country.
Today, the Department of State designated the Confucius Institute U.S. Center as a foreign mission of the PRC, recognizing CIUS for what it is: an entity advancing Beijing’s global propaganda and malign influence campaign on U.S. campuses and K-12 classrooms. Confucius Institutes are funded by the PRC and part of the Chinese Communist Party’s global influence and propaganda apparatus.
The goal of these actions is simple: to ensure that American educators and school administrators can make informed choices about whether these CCP-backed programs should be allowed to continue, and if so, in what fashion. Universities around the country and around the world are examining the Confucius Institutes’ curriculum and the scope of Beijing’s influence in their education systems. The United States wants to ensure that students on U.S. campuses have access to Chinese language and cultural offerings free from the manipulation of the Chinese Communist Party and its proxies.
And they are hubs for espionage.
I've been warning about these places for years:
American universities should no more want to allow these Chinese government institutes on to campus than they would allow ISIL Institutes, Ethnic Russian Putin Institutes, or Aryan Institutes.
Shame on those universities for taking China's money and allowing China to gain the stamp of approval of our higher education apparatus as a cover for information warfare.
Or have I missed the establishment of Lady Liberty Institutes promoting English language and American values in Chinese universities?
I don't know what the legal ramifications of this designation is. Perhaps it is simply highlighting the reality to put pressure on educational institutions to cut their ties. Of course, the CCP doesn't have all their eggs in one basket.
Work the problem.
