At least four more Confucius Institutes across the U.S. will close this year. U.S. lawmakers are pushing for legislation to tighten restrictions on Confucius Institutes again.
(File photo)
The University of Kentucky announced the closure of another Confucius Institute in the U.S. on March 3, citing concerns about losing Defense Department research funding. Over the past five years, the University of Kentucky has received about $50 million in DoD Education grants.
Not only this one, but at least three other U.S. public universities will close their Confucius Institutes during the year.
U.S. Senator John Kennedy: “These institutions, run by the Chinese Communist regime, do not allow the free exchange of ideas. Basically they represent the Chinese Communist Party, and the Confucius Institutes are a propaganda tool for the Chinese Communist Party.”
U.S. federal lawmakers are also continuing to push for legislation to strengthen regulation of the CCP’s Confucius Institutes.
On the 4th, the full federal Senate voted unanimously to pass a bill (CONFUCIUS Act.) that would prohibit federal funds from being invested in U.S. colleges of higher learning that offer Confucius Institutes unless the U.S. school holds the lead.
This is the third Time the Senate has passed this bill. Senator Kennedy called on the House of Representatives to also consider the bill and send it to the President for signature.
U.S. Senator John Kennedy: “The Chinese Communist Party wants to not only invade China, but swallow the whole world.”
The Trump administration has aggressively responded to the Chinese Communist Party’s infiltration of U.S. academia, first signing the National Defense Authorization Act in 2018, which prohibits the Department of Defense from funding U.S. universities with Confucius Institutes, and then in 2020, when the State Department announced that the Confucius Institute USA Center, which manages Confucius Institutes across the United States, would be listed as a foreign agent.
According to the nonprofit National Association of Scholars, as of February 17, 2021, there were 55 Confucius Institutes in the United States, after 64 had been closed.
However, President Biden revoked a Trump Administration rule requiring universities and public K12 schools to disclose their ties to Confucius Institutes the month he took office.
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