Pentagon designates Confucius Institutes a national security threat
US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth says the Pentagon has dismantled 80 Confucius Institute offshoots operating under new names at 30 American universities.
Washington has branded China's Confucius Institutes a national security threat, with the US Department of Defense announcing on Friday that it has shut down dozens of the Chinese-funded cultural programs operating at American universities.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced the move in a video posted on social media, saying the institutes had continued operating in disguise after Congress restricted them. According to Hegseth, about 80 new 'propaganda cells' had emerged at 30 universities under different names — and the Pentagon has 'systematically dismantled every single one of these organisations' over the past two months.
Confucius Institutes are Chinese government-backed language and cultural programs that once operated at scores of US universities. Washington has long accused the centers of serving as propaganda tools for Beijing, and successive US administrations have taken steps to curtail their presence on campuses.
Hegseth said the institutes had found workarounds after the congressional restrictions, reappearing in new forms. 'It turns out that 80 new propaganda cells across 30 universities had popped up using different names,' he said in the video, adding that they had 'infiltrated' universities.
The Chinese embassy in Washington did not respond to Reuters' request for comment on the designation.
The move marks a sharp escalation in Washington's campaign against the institutes, which have been a flashpoint in US-China tensions for years. It was not immediately clear what legal authority the Pentagon invoked for the designation or whether the dismantled programs will face any further action.
Source: Al Jazeera English — TrendWire reports stories in its own words; facts should be confirmed against the original source.