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<span class="gmail-hed-heading" href="http://foreignpolicy.com/2018/03/14/house-proposal-targets-confucius-institutes-as-foreign-agents-china-communist-party-censorship-academic-freedom/">
<h1 class="gmail-hed">House Proposal Targets Confucius Institutes as Foreign Agents</h1>
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<h2 class="gmail-dek-heading">The draft bill is the first legislative attempt to push back against the Chinese state-run programs.</h2>
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<address class="gmail-author-list">
<span class="gmail-pre">By</span>
<a href="http://foreignpolicy.com/author/bethany-allen-ebrahimian/" rel="author" class="gmail-author">
Bethany Allen-Ebrahimian</a></address>
<span class="gmail-separator">|</span>
<time datetime="2018-03-14" title="March 14th, 2018" class="gmail-date-time">
March 14, 2018, 3:19 PM</time>
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<img alt="Chinese consular staff wave national flags in front of a demonstration by supporters of the Falungong spiritual movement outside the venue where China's Vice President Xi Jinping was opening Australia's first Chinese Medicine Confucius Institute, at the RMIT University in Melbourne on June 20, 2010. (William West/AFP/Getty Images)" style="width: auto;" class="gmail-image gmail--fit gmail--loaded" src="https://foreignpolicymag.files.wordpress.com/2018/03/gettyimages-102236311.jpg?w=1781&h=1024&crop=0,0,245,0">
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<div class="gmail-caption">
Chinese consular staff wave national flags in front of a
demonstration by supporters of the Falungong spiritual movement outside
the venue where China's Vice President Xi Jinping was opening
Australia's first Chinese Medicine Confucius Institute, at the RMIT
University in Melbourne on June 20, 2010. (William West/AFP/Getty
Images) <span class="gmail-attribution"></span>
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<p><span style="font-weight:400">A new draft proposal in the
House of Representatives seeks to require China’s cultural outposts in
the United States, the Confucius Institutes, to register as foreign
agents.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight:400">The effort, spearheaded by U.S. Rep.
Joe Wilson (R-S.C.), targets any foreign funding at U.S. universities
that aims to promote the agenda of a foreign government. </span></p>
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</div><p><span style="font-weight:400">“The bottom line is transparency,” Wilson tells <span class="gmail-fp-red" style="color:rgb(235,20,20)">Foreign Policy </span>in an interview. </span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight:400">The draft bill does not single out
Confucius Institutes by name, but according to Wilson it will apply to
the Chinese government-run programs, which offer language and culture
classes on more than 100 American college and university campuses. The
institutes have come under increasing </span><a href="https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2018/01/16/how-china-infiltrated-us-classrooms-216327"><span style="font-weight:400">scrutiny</span></a><span style="font-weight:400">
in recent months due to their sometimes heavy-handed attempts to censor
discussion of topics that the Chinese Communist Party deems off-limits,
leading to growing concerns about academic freedom. </span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight:400">Wilson’s initiative would clarify
language in the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA), a Nazi-era law
intended to combat foreign propaganda. FARA requires organizations and
individuals engaged in lobbying or public discourse on behalf of a
foreign government to register with the Department of Justice, and to
disclose their funding and the scope of their activities. FARA does not
prohibit such funding or activities but rather seeks to provide
transparency about the true source of the messaging.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight:400">As currently written, FARA includes an
exemption for “bona fide” academic and scholastic pursuits, but what is
meant by “bona fide” is not clearly spelled out. The draft proposal
would redefine what is meant by a bona fide academic pursuit to exclude
any foreign-funded endeavor that promotes the agenda of a foreign
government. If enacted, the legislation would, in turn, trigger
mandatory registration for the institutes, though it would not interfere
with their activities.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight:400">“The goal is transparency by the
foreign agents themselves and also by the universities,” Wilson says.
“The American people need to know that they are being provided
propaganda.”</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight:400">Wilson joins a growing number of
lawmakers to express concerns about the Chinese state-funded programs.
In February, Republican Florida Sen. Marco Rubio called on his state’s
schools to close their Confucius Institutes, </span><a href="https://www.insidehighered.com/quicktakes/2018/02/06/more-scrutiny-confucius-institutes-one-close"><span style="font-weight:400">citing</span></a><span style="font-weight:400">
“China’s aggressive campaign to ‘infiltrate’ American classrooms,
stifle free inquiry, and subvert free expression both at home and
abroad.” And last week, U.S. Rep. Seth Moulton, a Democrat from
Massachusetts, </span><a href="https://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2018/03/09/moulton-wants-local-colleges-cut-ties-with-chinese-institute/2l5Y9Oa1WgG3SuapqGCaNP/story.html"><span style="font-weight:400">sent</span></a><span style="font-weight:400">
a letter to 40 colleges and universities in his state, urging them to
close their Confucius Institutes or refrain from opening them in the
first place. </span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight:400">The Chinese Communist Party has openly
said that Confucius Institutes are used for propaganda. Former top
party official Li Changchun has </span><a href="https://www.economist.com/node/14678507"><span style="font-weight:400">referred</span></a><span style="font-weight:400"> to the institutes as “an important part of China’s overseas propaganda set-up.”</span></p>
<p>“Confucius Institutes in the U.S. have been fully complying [with]
the university policies and requirement as open and transparent
initiatives,” said Gao Qing, executive director of the Confucius
Institute U.S. Center in Washington. “It is wise to further comprehend
Confucius Institutes’ operations and impact through people who [are
involved with] and participate in the programs, not through
speculations. The conclusion should not be drawn upon unfounded
allegations.”</p></div>
<br clear="all"><br>-- <br><div class="gmail_signature" data-smartmail="gmail_signature">=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+<br><br> Harold F. Schiffman<br><br>Professor Emeritus of <br> Dravidian Linguistics and Culture <br>Dept. of South Asia Studies <br>University of Pennsylvania<br>Philadelphia, PA 19104-6305<br><br>Phone: (215) 898-7475<br>Fax: (215) 573-2138 <br><br>Email: <a href="mailto:haroldfs@gmail.com" target="_blank">haroldfs@gmail.com</a><br><a href="http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/~haroldfs/" target="_blank">http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/~haroldfs/</a> <br><br>-------------------------------------------------</div>
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