In an effort to counteract the influence of officially funded Chinese Communist Party Confucius Institutes on U.S. higher education, Republican U.S. Senators and Representatives have urged the Biden Administration to expand the U.S.-Taiwan Education Initiative to replace the Confucius Institute’s Chinese language instruction program with Taiwan. Taiwan’s Representative to the U.S., Michelle Hsiao, welcomed the move, saying that the U.S.-Taiwan Education Initiative would ensure academic freedom for both sides, a tradition shared and cherished by both democracies.
Republican U.S. Senator Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) of Tennessee has been critical of the Chinese Communist government’s influence on academic and free speech in the United States through the Confucius Institute. On Wednesday (April 7), she said in a statement that Beijing-funded Confucius Institutes censor free speech, and that she and other senators and representatives have written to Education Secretary Cardona urging him to expand the U.S. education initiative with democracy partner Taiwan to support Chinese language learning and Chinese cultural education for U.S. students with an alternative option without censorship.
The statement also mentioned that Taiwan’s representative to the U.S., Mei-Chin Hsiao, welcomed this and said the Taiwan-U.S. Education Initiative would further promote the exchange of students and talent between Taiwan and the U.S. and encourage better understanding between the people of Taiwan and the U.S. “It simultaneously ensures academic freedom on both sides, a tradition shared and cherished by both democracies.”
Blackburn noted that expanding the U.S.-Taiwan Education Initiative could limit the influence of the People’s Republic of China, and that “the U.S.-Taiwan Education Initiative is an exemplary program because it seeks to increase opportunities for American students to study Chinese while also following the shared U.S.-Taiwan commitment to academic freedom,” and that the U.S. Department of Education could expand the U.S.-Taiwan Education Initiative as an uncensored alternative option to the Confucius Institute. “
The call for Blackburn’s proposal was supported by Senators, including Scott and Hawley, and Representatives, including Chabert and Representatives Michelle Park Steel (R-CA), Young Kim (D-CA), and Harshberger.
In a March 18 letter to U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona, the lawmakers urged him to “explore an uncensored alternative option that supports the teaching of Chinese language and culture, particularly those programs offered in Taiwan.”
The letter states that Confucius Institutes operate at 55 universities and colleges in the United States to promote the study of Chinese language and culture, but that Confucius Institutes receive funding and management from the People’s Republic of China, and that “numerous studies have recently provided examples of PRC officials pressuring Confucius Institute personnel to avoid making or holding speeches or events that are perceived to conflict with the national interests of the Chinese Communist Party. .”
For these reasons, the lawmakers said, the State Department designated the Confucius Institute USA as an affiliate of the People’s Republic of China in August 2020, but Hanban has since then branded the Confucius Institute as a “foundation for international education” in an attempt to avoid that designation, but allowing U.S. higher education institutions to But it is still unacceptable for U.S. higher education institutions to receive funding from the People’s Republic of China.
While U.S. higher education institutions have taken cautious steps to mitigate some of the malign effects of Confucius Institutes – often by closing them – there is still a high demand for students to learn Chinese language and Chinese culture and history in a globalized world, and Taiwan can assist the United States in meeting that demand,” according to the director of the American Institute in Taiwan. ‘Learning Chinese from Taiwanese teachers means learning the language in an environment free of censorship or coercion.'”
In response to a question from Voice of America about Blackburn’s use of Taiwan as an alternative option to the Confucius Institute, Taiwan’s representative to the U.S., Mei-Chen Hsiao, said during the regular Chinese language media tea party at Twin Oaks on Thursday that an education initiative was signed between the U.S. and Taiwan a few months ago to expand English and Chinese language exchange programs between the two sides, and that Taiwan’s role in those exchange programs is different from that of the Confucius Institute.
Taiwan Representative to the U.S. Mei-Chin Hsiao holds a Chinese language media briefing at Twin Oaks on April 8, 2021
She said that some U.S. universities “tend not to accept foreign government funding” based on student independence, but are happy to collaborate on exchanges with schools in Taiwan that are similar or complementary in nature on a school-to-school model. In addition, foreign language learning in the United States has been pushed down to elementary schools and kindergartens, and there is even immersion teaching, with huge demand for bilingualism.
“I believe foreigners who have studied in Taiwan and lived in Taiwan will fall in love with Taiwan.” This is an opportunity for Taiwan to show its important soft power and to show the enthusiasm and freedom of Taiwanese people,” said Mei-Chin Hsiao. Especially the learning environment in Taiwan is different from the Confucius Institute, the biggest difference is that we are a free place, there will be no government to influence, or because of the issue of speech and affect the personal freedom of this challenge, so in these areas we will continue to communicate with the U.S. side.”
Blackburn and a number of Republican senators, including Senators Cruz, Scott and Hawley, introduced the Confucius Institute Transparency Act this week to amend the U.S. Higher Education Act of 1965, which would require disclosure of program participation agreements between educational programs administered by the Hanban, a Communist Party agency in China, and U.S. institutions “in response to the way Beijing exerts unwanted influence in the way it does.”
She said Beijing will look for any opportunity to take a position in the American community and promote their propaganda, and that “the Confucius Institutes allow Communist China to influence American university students. We cannot allow these students to be brainwashed by a revisionist history.”
Senator Cruz said the Communist Party of China controls what Americans see, hear, and ultimately, think about the CCP with propaganda and censorship. “The Chinese Communist Party continues to be the single greatest geopolitical threat facing the United States,” and he is pleased to join Senator Blackburn in “ensuring that the Chinese Communist Party is held accountable for their malicious influence and widespread spying against American higher education.”
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