U.S. officials have repeatedly warned of the threat that the Confucius Institutes pose to the United States. In a recent interview on “Good Morning Orlando,” Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said that he hopes that U.S. schools will close their Confucius Institutes by the end of the year and that the U.S. will no longer be able to provide access to U.S. classrooms for those who are on U.S. visas and who participate in Confucius Institute operations on behalf of China. In addition, Secretary of State Pompeo and Secretary of Education DeVos last week warned of the malign influence of Confucius Institutes and Confucius Classrooms in U.S. schools and universities.
In a letter to institutions of higher education, the U.S. Departments of State and Education cited a “real and growing threat” of the authoritarian Chinese government’s bad influence on U.S. campuses, and that while Confucius Institutes are billed as Chinese language and cultural learning centers, there is growing evidence that they are also tools of Chinese malign influence and Chinese propaganda on U.S. campuses.
The letter adds, “The existence of Confucius Institutes, and the accompanying funding from Beijing, could provide financial and other incentives for the institutes to avoid criticism of Chinese policies and may put pressure on institutional faculty to self-censor.”
In a 2014 report, the American Association of University Professors noted that “Confucius Institutes, as a branch of the Chinese state, have been allowed to ignore academic freedom.”
Officials also recommended in the letter that schools examine activities related to the Confucius Institute and take appropriate action to protect the educational environment.
Peter Wyatt Wood, president of the National Association of Scholars, said, “This joint letter is an important step in the right direction. I hope and trust that there will be more steps to come.”
He said the Confucius Institute is not only a tool of the Communist Party’s “soft power,” but also a center for intelligence gathering and intellectual property theft, a base for people who spy on foreign students in the United States, and a recruitment center for agents of Chinese interests.
He also told VOA that the joint letter was intended as a warning to colleges and universities that continue to cooperate with the Confucius Institute. “The joint letter does not stipulate that these colleges and universities cease their cooperation with the Confucius Institute, nor does it address the evasive tactics of some colleges and universities that have renamed Confucius Institutes to avoid scrutiny. It is clear that the leaders of these colleges and universities are aware of what is happening and have consciously chosen to collude with China, despite the harm it will cause to students and our country,”
Emory University replied in an email that it would not renew its contract with the Atlanta Confucius Institute after the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) expires in November 2021.
The host institution for the Atlanta Confucius Institute is Emory University, and its partner institution is China’s Nanjing University. Emory University will remain committed to the free exchange of ideas and research, and this decision does not diminish the interest in working with China,” the university said in a statement. The role of American universities in fostering mutual understanding and exchange with China is more important than ever, and our university will remain committed to these efforts.”
In a separate letter sent to state education secretaries, Pompeo and DeVos also warned of the Communist Party’s “Confucius Classroom” in the United States, saying it would endanger American values.
The letter said, “Over the past decade, the authoritarian Chinese government has used the ‘Confucius Classroom’ to provide curriculum and CCP-trained teachers to hundreds of K-12 schools in the United States. Known as a language and culture program, the ‘Confucius Classroom’ is actually an important element of the CCP’s global influence campaign, which now reaches thousands of American students every day.”
The letter adds that while the Confucius Classroom teachers do not appear to engage in ideological propaganda, they can avoid discussing the CCP’s treatment of dissidents, religious figures and minorities. “Particularly at the high school level, this creates a troubling information shortage in an environment that should be focused on the study of Chinese language and culture. At any grade level, having a teacher backed by an authoritarian regime in an American classroom poses a risk to our democratic values.”
The Secretary of State and the Secretary of Education also encouraged schools and staff to scrutinize any “Confucius Classroom” activities in education programs. “In doing so, please ensure that our academic freedom is practiced and respected, that Confucius Classroom teachers’ work rules are consistent with U.S. laws and values, and that teaching in Confucius Classrooms is free of outside influence and interference.”
Officials also said that many schools have established “excellent Chinese language and culture programs” without the Chinese government.
The Confucius Classroom is located at Shecka Heights High School in Ohio and the Hodges School in Connecticut, both of which have Confucius classes.
VOA has no comment on the joint letter from U.S. officials.
The U.S. State Department announced on August 13 that the Confucius Institute USA is considered a foreign mission of the Chinese government and requires that Confucius Institute personnel be subject to the same administrative controls as foreign embassy and consulate personnel in the U.S., including registration of relevant documents with the State Department.
David R. Stilwell, the State Department’s assistant secretary of state for East Asian affairs, has said that the U.S. government’s designation of the Confucius Institutes as foreign missions is intended to make U.S. universities aware that the Confucius Institutes have other activities besides teaching Chinese, but that it is up to each institution to decide whether to close the Confucius Institutes on their campuses.
U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo also said last month that he hoped to close dozens of Confucius Institutes around the country by the end of the year. He was asked by the host of the Fox Business Channel’s “Lou Dobbs Tonight” how many more Confucius Institutes there would be in the U.S. by the end of the year. He replied, “I hope the answer is zero.”
While some worry that Confucius Institutes and Confucius Classrooms threaten U.S. values and academic freedom, others argue that Confucius Institutes provide an avenue for Chinese language education for schools that do not have the funds to offer similar programs.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian on Friday (Oct. 16) accused Pompeo and other U.S. politicians of smearing the Confucius Institutes out of ideological prejudice and political self-interest, interfering with their normal operation in the U.S., deliberately undermining cultural and educational exchanges and cooperation between the two countries, and seriously violating the wishes of the people of the two countries.
He added: “The Confucius Institute is a bridge and a link to help people from all over the world to learn Chinese, understand China, and strengthen humanistic exchanges between China and other countries. Confucius Institutes in the United States have long been established through cooperation between Chinese and American universities based on the principles of ‘mutual respect, friendly consultation, equality and mutual benefit’ and are managed in an open and transparent manner. widely welcomed by the people.”
In their letter, Pompeo and DeVos also addressed the impact of national security laws on American campuses. They wrote, “It is clear that students in the free world cannot study and discuss contemporary China without fear of violating the new Hong Kong national security law, and some American professors have offered to hide their status as students or allow them to ‘opt out’ of China-related courses and class discussions. “
The Wall Street Journal has reported that the impact of China’s new national security law in Hong Kong has spread to U.S. college campuses.
Students taking Chinese politics classes at Princeton University will use code names instead of first names on their assignments to protect their identities, the report said. At Amherst College, a professor is considering anonymous online chats so that students can speak freely. At Harvard Business School, students will be allowed to refrain from participating in discussions on politically sensitive topics if they are concerned about the risks.
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