Biden Admin Grants Waiver Allowing Universities To Host Chinese Confucius Institute Chapters: Report
The Department of Defense (DOD) is granting waivers to universities in the U.S. that would allow them to receive federal funding while hosting Chinese Confucius Institute chapters, the Washington Free Beacon first reported Wednesday.
The DOD announced it would begin granting the waivers in late March, despite federal law prohibiting federal funding for universities that host the Institute. Members of Congress told the Beacon the DOD is subverting that law, which was passed as part of the 2021 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA).
JUST IN: Biden Admin Green-lights CCP Spy Embassies at US Colleges — New waiver program will let schools with Confucius Institutes still rake in federal dollars, including for sensitive Pentagon projects https://t.co/v5ggvaSvrf
— Adam Kredo (@Kredo0) April 26, 2023
“The Chinese Communist Party [CCP] is subverting U.S. institutions and Joe Biden is sabotaging legislation to stop them,” Republican Indiana Rep and House Select Committee on China member Jim Banks told the Beacon. He said the committee is trying to “win a game of oversight whack-a-mole against a president who is running cover for China.”
The Confucius Institute acts as an education and cultural promotional tool for the CCP at universities around the world, under the guise of promoting Chinese language and culture. Critics have accused the CCP of meddling at the Institution’s chapters to harass Chinese dissidents, curtail academic freedom and spread CCP propaganda.
The CCP has opened more than 100 chapters of the Institute in the United States in the past 15 years, according to the Free Beacon, although some universities have cut ties due to concerns about CCP influence. China has spent at least $426 million in American higher education since 2011, and $158 million on the Confucius Institute, the Beacon reported.
The NDAA provision aims to remove Pentagon-funded contracts from universities potentially hosting Chinese espionage centers. The ban is set to go into place Oct. 1, 2023, but it is unclear whether the change will have any teeth if the reported DOD waivers are allowed to stand.
AUTHOR
DYLAN HOUSMAN
Chief foreign affairs correspondent. Follow Dylan on Twitter.
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