The institutes are exposed as the long arm of the CCP to infiltrate American universities and spread “propaganda and malign influence.”
by Massimo Introvigne
On August 13, according to an official press statement, the Department of State designated the Confucius Institute U.S. Center as “a foreign mission of China.” The statement explained that the U.S. is recognizing Confucius Institute “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, the Department of State explained, 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.”
In the U.S. roughly 100 Confucius Institutes are currently operating. The decision by the Department of State does not shut them down, but places the institutes under surveillance, and certainly encourages American universities to terminate relationships with them. It is expected that the U.S. will also ask other countries to limit the activities of the Confucius Institutes, which have been denounced for years as United Front tools for influencing and corrupting academics and manipulating students under the pretext of teaching Chinese language and culture.
