‘Systematically dismantled’: Hegseth’s new offensive against China’s Confucius Institutes
Just weeks before Donald Trump’s second trip to China this year and his third meeting with President Xi Jinping, whom he has called a “truly great” friend, his administration is intensifying its crackdown on Confucius Institutes – Beijing-backed centres that promote Chinese language and culture at universities abroad. Long viewed by critics as instruments of Beijing’s soft power and cultural…
As Donald Trump prepares for his second visit to China this year and a third meeting with President Xi Jinping, his administration is ramping up its campaign against Confucius Institutes. These institutions, backed by Beijing, aim to spread Chinese language and culture at universities worldwide. US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth claims the Pentagon has "systematically dismantled" about 80 new propaganda cells across 30 universities that appeared under new names and charters.
Hegseth describes these as threats to national security, stating that they aimed to steal intellectual property and infiltrate American students' minds. The department has dismantled every one of these organizations, according to Hegseth. The Chinese embassy in Washington has not yet commented on the matter. Confucius Institutes, launched in 2004, promote Chinese language and culture as part of China's soft power strategy.
However, critics accuse them of serving the Communist Party of China's United Front and influence operations, raising concerns about academic freedom, transparency, and potential political interference. By the late 2010s, there were roughly 500-550 institutes and over 1,000 Confucius Classrooms in over 140 countries. After the first US institute opened in 2005, the network expanded to over 100 institutes and numerous Confucius Classrooms across American campuses.
The latest crackdown comes amid ongoing strategic rivalry between Washington and Beijing. Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi recently called for cooperation on artificial intelligence (AI) development and governance, emphasizing the need to keep the technology under human control and benefit people. Hegseth's move is welcomed by some critics in the US as a long-overdue step against Chinese influence operations.
However, others who have worked closely with these institutes argue that it is a strategic own goal, as Washington has sacrificed an important instrument of engagement with China.
Written by urgent.news from Reuters Business via SCMP's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
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- ‘Systematically dismantled’: Hegseth’s new offensive against China’s Confucius Institutes scmp.com
- Pentagon designates Confucius Institutes in US a national security threat freemalaysiatoday.com
- Pentagon puts China-funded Confucius Institutes on US security threat list malaymail.com
- Pentagon designates Confucius Institutes in US a national security threat nst.com.my
- Pentagon designates China-backed campus cultural centers a threat to US national security theguardian.com
- Pentagon designates China-funded Confucius Institutes as US national security threat channelnewsasia.com
- Pentagon designates Confucius Institutes a national security threat aljazeera.com
