Universities close most China's soft power institutes but many still operating under new cover

American universities closed down most of the more than 100 Beijing-linked Confucius Institutes around the country, but many of the Chinese cultural sites continue operating under new names and programs that promote official propaganda and soft power, according to a new research study being released Tuesday.

However, the Chinese government is continuing to influence American universities using alternative organizations and methods, the report argues.

“The demise of Confucius Institutes, one of China’s most strategic beachheads in American higher education, has not deterred the Chinese government from seeking alternative means of influencing American colleges and universities,” the independent conservative advocacy group’s report concludes.

FBI Director Christopher Wray said in 2020 that Confucius Institutes are part of Beijing’s soft power structure to influence universities and their administrators, often with state funding.

government efforts to close down the institutes, calling them “part of the Chinese Communist Party’s global influence and propaganda apparatus.”.

Many staff members of the institutes have moved on to similar Chinese influence programs at the same university and textbooks and materials conforming to state Chinese propaganda continue to be used on campuses where institutes were closed.

“Many institutions, upon closing a [Confucius Institute], were forced to refund money to the Chinese government, sometimes in excess of $1 million,” the report said.

“Some, including those for the University of Michigan and Arizona State University, have been retroactively edited to make continued Chinese funding anonymous,” the report said.

The university has since severed ties with the Confucius Institute, but sought legal loopholes that allowed the school to skirt federal transparency laws, the report said.

“Western Kentucky University installed as its founding Confucius Institute director, Wei-Ping Pan, a leading expert in coal technology, at just the time the Chinese government was targeting coal technology for improper transfer to China,” the report said.

The report recommended that all universities close the remaining Confucius Institutes and withdraw from the replacement programs, including the sister university program