The Biden administration has made a much-feared nod toward the Chinese government by removing some of the government’s previous watchdogs that were on high alert.
“Around 500 K-12 schools and 65 colleges in the U.S. have partnerships with the Confucius Institute U.S. Center, a U.S.-based affiliate of the Beijing-based Confucius Institute Headquarters. The institute, also known as Hanban, is affiliated with the Chinese Ministry of Education,” the Daily Caller News Foundation reported. “Many of Hanban’s directors are members of the Chinese Communist Party or have close ties to the organization.”
In and of itself, it’s possible that some cultural exchange could be a good thing. After all, America might be the greatest country, but it’s certainly not the oldest. However, there is an inherent danger in contact with one of the world’s most powerful and dictatorial superpowers. With that in mind, the Trump administration put into place a rule “Establishing Requirement for Student and Exchange Visitor Program Certified Schools to Disclose Agreements with Confucius Institutes and Classrooms.”
That rule seemed unnecessary to the new Biden administration who withdrew the proposed rule to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) within days of President Joe Biden’s inauguration.
“The rule would require colleges and K-12 schools that are certified to have foreign exchange programs to disclose any contracts, partnerships or financial transactions from Confucius Institutes or Classrooms,” Axios reported last month. “A report from the Senate’s Permanent Select Committee on Investigations found that nearly 70% of schools receiving more than $250,000 from organizations related to the Chinese government did not report the funding as legally required.”
The report went on to show that China has influence in U.S. classrooms through the Confucius Institute, which was particularly concerning to Republicans who consider the communist teachings to have far-reaching damaging effects on the youth of Americans. The Daily Wire reported that there are some U.S. officials alarmed by the Confucius Institutes “because they are funded and staffed by the Chinese Ministry of Education, and in numerous cases, they have censored curricula and events.”
These concerns were echoed by Former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo who is a former CIA director who graduated #1 in his class at West Point Military Academy when he warned last year that communist China “has taken advantage of America’s openness to undertake large scale and well-funded propaganda efforts and influence operations in this country.”
The former secretary of state’s comments were made when he announced that the United States was designating Confucius Institutes a foreign mission of communist China.
“Today, the Department of State designated the Confucius Institute U.S. Center as a foreign mission of the PRC, recognizing CIUS for what it is: an entity advancing Beijing’s global propaganda and malign influence campaign on U.S. campuses and K-12 classrooms,” Pompeo said. “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 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,” he added. “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.”
The idea that the United States would just turn a blind eye to a likely invasive entity of the Chinese government is not only alarming, but it also has potentially devastating effects on our nation and its youth.
