Trump Administration Designates Confucius Institute as Propaganda Arms of Beijing

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Aug 17, 2020

On August 13, 2020, the Trump administration labeled the Confucius Institute U.S. Center as a foreign arm of the Chinese Community Party.

Journalist Jack Posobiec announced this earlier that day in a tweet:

“BREAKING: The Trump Administration has designated Confucius Institutes as foreign propaganda agents of the People’s Republic of China.”

The Trump administration alleged that the program is part of Beijing’s propaganda efforts and spreads its influence on American campuses and classrooms, despite how the program is marketed as an innocuous Chinese language teaching venture.

Under this new designation, the Confucius Institute U.S. Center, located in Washington, is now obligated to “submit reports to the U.S. governments about its funding, personnel, curriculum, and other activities in the United States,” according to a report by The Star Tribune.

“We’re not kicking them out. We’re just highlighting the fact that these folks do work for the Ministry of Education of the (Chinese) Communist Party,” declared Assistant Secretary of State for East Asia and Pacific Affairs David Stilwell.

There are approximately 500 K-12 classrooms connected to the Confucius Institute, Stilwell stated. Additionally, there are institutes at 65 American campuses. A number of universities have closed up institutes due to fears that they were spreading pro-CCP propaganda.

This classification is the most recent of Trump administration’s decisions against China while diplomatic relations between the countries have frayed over the Wuhan virus pandemic.

“The People’s Republic of China has taken advantage of America’s openness to undertake large-scale and well-funded propaganda efforts and influence operations in this country,” Secretary of State Mike Pompeo declared in a statement.

Since it embarked on a series of reforms in the 1980s, China has taken advantage of the West’s naïve openness towards it in terms of immigration and trade.

A sensible America First approach to China consists of immigration restriction and trade reform. The Trump administration has moved in a positive direction towards that.

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