E&W Blog

The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has a long, troubling, anti-democratic history, but the full extent of the CCP’s malicious activities gained particular attention this past year, thanks to the China Task Force which released a detailed report highlighting the generational threat China poses to our nation’s democratic values. 
 
The China Task Force Report came amid numerous reports revealing efforts by the CCP to infiltrate U.S. campuses. The incidents seemed to come one after another raising the alarm on academic espionage and the integrity of our democratic institutions of higher education. The severity of the CCP’s influence forced the federal government to reevaluate the ways in which our academic freedom has been undermined and to what extent institutions of higher education should be held accountable. 
 
One of the more pressing threats identified by Congress and the Trump administration are Confucius Institutes, “organizations primarily located on U.S. college and university campuses that push skewed Chinese language and cultural training for U.S. students as part of Beijing’s multifaceted propaganda efforts.” In other words, Confucius Institutes are used by the CCP to exploit intellectual integrity on U.S. college campuses. 
 
The Good News
 
H.R. 6395, the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2021 (NDAA), includes a measure to combat Confucius Institutes’ influence. Specifically, the NDAA prohibits institutions of higher education from receiving federal funds from the Department of Education—excluding student aid dollars—unless the institution’s contract with the Confucius Institute protects academic freedom, prohibits foreign law from applying on campus, and grants full managerial authority of the Confucius Institute to the university.
 
There is no place for Chinese censorship in America, especially not on college campuses where American ingenuity takes flight. The NDAA delivers a strong message to CCP: your propaganda will be met with consequences.