Congressman Mike Collins (R-Georgia) recently expressed concerns regarding Confucius Institutes funded and run by the Chinese government and the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).
A spokesman for Collins, who represents Georgia’s 10th district, said the congressman will continue to vote against Chinese influence on American soil as he believes the CCP and affiliated organizations are dangerous to national security and the future of the younger generation. Studies have shown most Confucius Institutes have been shut down, but a few remain within American universities with different names and are still connected to the CCP.
A report from the National Association of Scholars (NAS) lists more than a dozen active Confucius Institutes at schools in the United States., including Stanford University, West Virginia University, and the University of Akron. The report found 104 Confucius Institutes that have either closed or are in the process of closing. At least 28 of those schools replaced the program with a similar one, and at least 58 have maintained close ties with their former Confucius Institute partners, including the CCP.
According to NAS, as of September 2022, 15 Confucius Institutes remain in the U.S. The Confucius Institutes were rebranded as the Chinese International Education Fund, formerly known as Hanban, which allows the Chinese government and CCP to influence American higher education, NAS stated.
"Rep. Collins believes that Confucius Institutes are a danger not only to our national security but to the future of our kids," a spokesperson for Collins said. "These Chinese Communist Party propaganda machines are attempting to expand CCP influence and control to American institutions, which cannot be tolerated. Rep. Collins has voted to eliminate Chinese influence on our Strategic Petroleum Reserve and will continue fighting CCP influence across Georgia and the country."
According to a 2019 BBC report, Confucius Institutes, or CIs, are "a bridge reinforcing friendship," according to the Chinese government. However, BBC reports CIs are a conduit for the Chinese government to exert its influence in the form of propaganda to other nations.
The Confucius Institutes are put in place as cultural centers where young people can learn the Chinese language, history, and different forms of Chinese art. Many universities shut down their CI programs in the last four years once they were discovered as a way for the Chinese government to exert its influence on foreign nations, according to the BBC.
In June 202, VOA reported many CIs were re-opening in the U.S. under the guise of different names or with different backgrounds. Perry Link, a professor of Chinese language at the University of California Riverside, told VOA News he was shocked “how many Confucius Institutes have been shut.”
“I didn’t expect the rate of closures to be so high,” he said. “They still exist in another way with another name. I think this is expected. I just didn’t expect it to happen so soon.”
