Chinese-funded Confucius Institutes on US college campuses must reform or be shut down, Senate report demands

This story is published in a content partnership with POLITICO. It was originally reported by Benjamin Wermund on politico.com on February 27, 2019.

A scathing US Senate report released Wednesday says that without major changes, so-called Confucius Institutes paid for by the Chinese government and operating on dozens of American college campuses should shut down.

The bipartisan report by a Homeland Security subcommittee blasts the language and cultural centres at more than 100 US universities as too strictly controlled and a threat to academic freedom. It accuses many American colleges of failing to disclose how much money they’ve received from the Chinese government – which the report says has spent more than US$158 million on schools in the US since 2006. Many colleges didn’t reveal they’ve accepted hundreds of thousands of dollars from China despite Education Department guidance that requires reporting of foreign gifts.

And it’s not just college campuses. The report notes the rapid growth of so-called Confucius Classrooms, Chinese language classes funded by the Chinese government in more than 500 elementary, middle and high schools in the US. The K-12 expansion is a top priority for China, according to the report released by Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations Chairman Rob Portman (R-Ohio) and ranking member Senator Tom Carper (D-Del.).

The 93-page report says it’s all a key part of China’s efforts to control its image abroad, and it notes the Chinese government has not allowed the US to do the same in China. “Absent full transparency regarding how Confucius Institutes operate and full reciprocity for US cultural outreach efforts on college campuses in China, Confucius Institutes should not continue in the United States,” it says.