House Republicans Launch Probe Into China’s Influence on American Universities
Republicans in the House of Representatives announced this week that they have launched an investigation into China’s influence on American universities and colleges. Many universities and colleges have cut ties with the Chinese government’s Confucius Institute over concerns that it sought to limit criticism of China on American campuses.
According to a report by Fox News, Republican lawmakers in the House of Representatives have launched a probe into China’s efforts to infiltrate American colleges and universities.
In a letter to Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos, Republican lawmakers wrote that they are concerned that the Chinese government is using American universities and colleges to indoctrinate students.
“We cannot allow a dangerous communist regime to buy access to our institutions of higher education, plain and simple,” Representative Jim Jordan (R-OH) said.
The letter, which was signed by leaders of the House Committee on Education and Labor, House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, House Armed Services Committee, House Committee on Homeland Security, House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology, House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, and House Foreign Affairs Committee, asks DeVos to aid them in their investigation of China’s influence on American universities and colleges.
“For some time, we have been concerned about the potential for the Chinese government to use its strategic investments to turn American college campuses into indoctrination platforms for American students,” the letter reads.
The letter expresses concern that the Chinese government has exerted influence on American campuses through the Confucius Institute, an organization backed by the Chinese government that partners with American institutions to teach Chinese language and culture. However, many universities and colleges have severed ties with the Confucius Institute over concerns that it was designed to limit criticism of the Chinese government on American campuses.
“For example, a 2018 Hoover Institution report notes the presence of some 110 ‘Confucius Institutes’ on college campuses as well as over 500 ‘Confucius Classrooms’ in secondary schools,” the letter continues. “While the stated mission of such institutes and classrooms is to teach Chinese language and culture, the report notes, ‘faculty and other watchdogs have warned that they may present risks to intellectual freedom by using American universities as vehicles through which to advance Chinese Communist Party propaganda.'”
Breitbart News reported in January that Harvard University Chemistry Chairman Charles Lieber had been charged with fraud over his private financial relationship with the Chinese government. Lieber was paid millions of dollars by the Chinese government to work on “collaborative projects” between Harvard and the Chinese government.
Stay tuned to Breitbart News for more updates on this story.
Photo: ANTHONY WALLACE/AFP via Getty
