Part of a propaganda program that began in 2009, underwritten by China’s communist government, that’s now found in “more than 100 elementary, middle, and high schools located in 27 states and the District of Columbia”, resulting in young students being instilled with a pro-China, pro-Communist worldview. The New American reported on the presence of China-sponsored Confucius Institutes on college campuses (to a partnership between Confucius Institutes and the Asia Society) and the fact that only 30 percent of U.S. universities to host these programs have disclosed the funding they have received from Beijing, which in some cases has approached $250,000 in one year.
According to the Washington Free Beacon’s review of federal records, only 30 percent of colleges that host or have hosted Chinese-financed Confucius Institutes have disclosed their financial ties to Beijing. After reaching out to all 75 institutions that have not reported the funding to the Department of Education, the Free Beacon received replies from only 22. One of the most prevalent responses was that the universities refrained from disclosing the donations because their annual receipts fell below the $250,000 threshold. In one example, a representative from the University of Wisconsin-Platteville said the college felt it did not have to file a report for 2019 Confucius Institute funding because those donations totaled $246,711 — more than $3,000 short of the threshold.
Some policy and education experts fear the Confucius Institutes could serve as a way for China’s government to gain control of American campuses while indoctrinating students with a slanted version of history that favors the Chinese Communist Party. In fact, federal and Senate investigations have found that the Chinese regime itself hires the instructors for the program and forbids them from telling students anything negative about China.
“The Chinese Communist Party doesn’t need to seek the consent of the governed,” says Mike Gonzalez, a senior fellow at the Heritage Foundation. “And [they] are very used to — within the context of China — being able to censor debate. They want to do the same thing in the United States through different means, and the Confucius Institutes are one of the ways in which it does it.”
The Chinese government nearly always pays the universities that host Confucius Institutes, though some exceptions do exist. According to a 2019 report by the Congressional Research Service, Hanban — a public institution aligned with the Chinese Ministry of Education — usually gives colleges a $150,000 start-up fund, along with $100,000 to $200,000 per year to cover operation costs.
Colleges have retroactively disclosed $6.5 billion in previously unreported foreign funding from Chinese and Middle Eastern sources, according to a department letter to House Republicans. Six universities, including the University of Nebraska and West Virginia University, disclosed almost $3 million in previously unreported Confucius Institute funding in the most recent foreign gift and contract report.
The FBI and Justice Department have stated that Confucius Institutes are replete with Chinese state propaganda, intellectual property theft, and “undisclosed ties to Chinese institutions, and conflicted loyalties.” According to its website, the Asia Society’s mission is “preparing Asians and Americans for a shared future.” The organization was founded by the late John D. Rockefeller III of the globalist Rockefeller clan and has been praised by former communist Chinese president Hu Jintao.
The Asia Society notes that the Confucius classrooms program has been “established with the support of an Expert Advisory Committee” that includes Communist Party of China officials from the Chinese Embassy in Washington, D.C. and the Chinese Consulate General in New York. The program is also advised by top officials from Chinese universities such as East China Normal University, Renmin University, and Wuhan University, which have records of cyber-espionage and intellectual property theft.
A number of U.S. government officials also participate in the program, including Jennifer Gibson of the State Department’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, Rebecca Richey of the Department of Education, and Gregg Roberts of the Utah Department of Education.
Two American Confucius Classrooms programs were even honored during the Asia Society’s Confucius Institute World Conference in Shanghai in 2015, as the Asia Society mentions on its website:
The International School of Tucson in Arizona and Pioneer Valley Chinese Immersion Charter School in Massachusetts, both members of Asia Society’s Confucius Classrooms Network, have been named Hanban Confucius Classrooms of the Year for excellence in teaching and learning, curriculum, cultural richness, community engagement, and extracurricular activities.
Additionally, Hanban hosts a yearly Chinese Bridge for American Principals Conference at its headquarters in China. The group noted that the 2019 conference was attended by “172 educational officials and principals from mainstream primary and secondary schools from Washington, D.C and other 28 American states upon invitation.”
The National Pulse revealed that at a Confucius program at a K-6 school in Utah, the instructor had students write letters to Chinese president Xi Jinping and showed them Chinese military parades, causing the children to develop a liking for the communist regime.
A broader Chinese language initiative in Utah has led to Chinese Communist Party (CCP) military parades being shown to children in public schools, with teacher Zheng Yamin declaring: “Behind the language is the culture. When we learn Chinese, we are also learning Chinese culture, Chinese morality and values….
“…On National Day of China last year, the children watched a grand military parade with me,” she added. “They thought President Xi Jinping was cool. Later, when they saw President Xi Jinping delivering the New Year’s speech, they thought President Xi Jinping was very kind.”
It isn’t just propaganda China is pumping into America. Customs and Border Protection officers in Louisville, Kentucky, recently seized 11,000 illegal firearms — valued at nearly $130,000 — that originated from Shenzen, China, and was intended for a residence in Melbourne, Florida.
This comes as the Wall Street Journal has reported on illegal firearms appearing around Black Lives Matter events in Louisville. Then there’s also the fentanyl China ships to the United States, fueling the opioid crisis that claims nearly 50,000 lives a year. Yet while China continues to try to subvert America’s safety and sovereignty, the United States has allowed itself to become dependent on the communist state for a number of essential goods, including medicine and its ingredients.
President Trump rightly identified China as one of America’s top geopolitical threats. But so long as the political establishment fights tooth and nail to preserve the status quo, China will continue to rise while the United States declines. The Chinese infiltration of American schools has been a growing concern. The Trump administration launched an investigation of Harvard and Yale for their foreign funding. The White House maintains that Yale has not reported, at minimum, $375 million in foreign funding after failing to file reports for three years from 2014-2017.
Sources:
- https://www.thenewamerican.com/culture/education/item/36033-dozens-of-u-s-colleges-failed-to-report-millions-in-donations-from-china
- https://www.thenewamerican.com/culture/item/36235-report-china-is-brainwashing-our-kids-arming-our-criminals
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9z6tKc1CGCk
