Former U.S. President Donald Trump has proposed requiring schools at all levels to disclose their partnerships with Chinese Confucius Institutes. It was previously rumored that the new Biden administration had withdrawn the plan, but the U.S. side denied it.
The South China Morning Post reported that State Department spokesman Ned Price denied media reports that Joe Biden’s team had “quietly” abandoned the program.
Price said the draft rule was not removed from the Federal Register, but from the White House Office of Management and Budget process.
The Trump Administration never sent the draft rule to the Federal Register in the first place because the White House Office of Management and Budget never completed the review process during the Trump presidency,” Price said.
He noted that White House Chief of Staff Ron Klain froze the regulatory process on Jan. 20, the day Biden was inaugurated as president of the United States. This draft regulation, as well as others that did not pass the White House Office of Management and Budget review, were all removed from the review process and must be resubmitted.
Price added, “Referring to the Confucius Institute, we have ongoing concerns about the activities of the Chinese Communist Party, including through such institutions, because of their potential to affect academic freedom in the United States.
The U.S. is still studying the best way to counteract the CCP’s actions to “undermine and interfere with democracy.
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