Investigations have identified undisclosed Chinese funding, renamed academic partnerships and continuing K-12 programs after American universities closed their Confucius Institutes, raising questions about foreign influence and federal oversight.
By yourNEWS Media Newsroom
WASHINGTON — Chinese government-backed language and cultural programs continued operating through renamed partnerships, nonprofit organizations and public school networks after most American universities closed their Confucius Institutes, according to investigations that have gained renewed attention following the Pentagon’s announcement that it dismantled 80 programs at 30 universities.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced Oct. 23 that the Department of Defense had identified organizations operating under different names while maintaining activities associated with the Chinese-funded institutes. He said the Pentagon had dismantled the programs over the preceding two months and designated the organizations national security threats.
“It turns out that 80 new propaganda cells across 30 universities had popped up using different names and different charters, but with the same mission: to steal intellectual property and to infiltrate the minds of American students,” Hegseth said, according to Reuters.
The Pentagon has not publicly established that each institution committed espionage or intellectual property theft, and Hegseth’s announcement did not identify all 80 programs individually.
His remarks followed years of congressional investigations and federal restrictions intended to prevent Chinese government-backed educational programs from gaining influence over American universities and schools.
A 2022 National Association of Scholars investigation found that at least 64 of 104 American institutions that had closed Confucius Institutes established similar programs under new names or maintained relationships with their former Chinese partners.
The association also identified changes to federal foreign-funding disclosures involving the University of Michigan and Arizona State University that made previously identified Chinese contributions anonymous.
In Michigan’s case, the organization reported that donor information identifying Confucius Institute Headquarters had disappeared from federal disclosure records. The university had received more than $300,000 from Hanban around the time its institute closed in 2019, according to the report.
The findings raised concerns that shutting down an institute did not necessarily eliminate the financial arrangements, personnel connections or institutional partnerships underlying its operations.
The university disclosures are among several examples cited by investigators who say foreign educational partnerships have sometimes continued without the public visibility previously associated with Confucius Institutes.
A more recent investigation by the Foundation for Defense of Democracies found similar concerns in elementary and secondary schools, where foreign-funding disclosure requirements are generally less extensive than those applying to universities.
The foundation’s October 2026 report on foreign influence in American K-12 education identified continuing relationships involving Chicago Public Schools, Texas education organizations and nonprofits that inherited responsibilities previously handled by Confucius Institutes.
In Chicago, public school financial records listed the Confucius Institute of Chicago as the source of more than $290,000 in grants for fiscal year 2026, despite reports that the institute had closed in 2020.
The grants supported the district’s Office for Multicultural-Multilingual Education and Chinese World Language Program. Jane Lu served as director of both the institute and the district’s Chinese-language initiative, according to the foundation.
Investigators said the overlap raised questions about whether programming had continued under a different administrative structure after the institute’s reported closure.
In Texas, ILTexas Global previously coordinated Confucius Classroom programming involving China’s Ministry of Education and American school districts.
Until at least September 2025, its website identified the organization as an intermediary between the Chinese ministry and school districts. The wording subsequently disappeared after the Foundation for Defense of Democracies submitted a public records request seeking documents about the organization’s activities.
Financial statements indicated that ILTexas Global formally ended its Confucius Classroom coordination role on June 30, 2023. However, earlier correspondence showed discussions about potentially replacing its agreement with China’s Center for Language Education and Cooperation.
Investigators found no confirmation that a replacement agreement was signed.
Another organization identified in the report was the Center for Bridging Cultures, a northern Virginia nonprofit that supports Chinese-language instruction, arranges educational exchanges and distributes funding to American schools.
Its executive director, Gao Qing, previously headed the Confucius Institute U.S. Center, which the State Department designated a Chinese foreign mission in August 2020.
Beijing Language and Culture University lists the Center for Bridging Cultures among its international education partners and identifies it as helping continue programs previously operated through Confucius Institutes and Confucius Classrooms.
The foundation also documented how Alfred University in New York worked with Gao Qing and the nonprofit in 2023 to preserve Chinese-language instruction and relationships with China University of Geosciences after closing its Confucius Institute.
The findings illustrate how organizations with different names and structures can maintain educational relationships established through the original Confucius Institute network.
That network began expanding in the United States in November 2004, when the University of Maryland opened the country’s first Confucius Institute in partnership with Nankai University.
The institutes received funding, instructors and educational materials through Hanban, an organization associated with China’s Ministry of Education. American universities generally supplied facilities, administrative support and additional resources.
Their stated purpose was to promote Mandarin Chinese instruction and cultural understanding, but congressional investigators increasingly questioned the influence Chinese funding arrangements could exert over American institutions.
A bipartisan 2019 Senate investigation concluded that the Chinese government exercised substantial control over the institutes, including authority affecting instructional materials, personnel and programming.
The report raised concerns about restrictions on discussions of politically sensitive subjects, including Taiwan, Tibet and the Chinese government’s human rights record.
Federal officials also warned that Chinese government-supported programs could create opportunities for espionage, intellectual property theft and other foreign influence activities.
Those concerns prompted congressional restrictions on Pentagon funding beginning in 2018. Subsequent legislation expanded the restrictions, limiting Defense Department support for universities maintaining Confucius Institutes without an authorized waiver.
The financial consequences contributed to widespread closures.
According to the Government Accountability Office’s October 2023 investigation, the number of Confucius Institutes at American colleges and universities declined from approximately 100 in 2019 to fewer than five by late 2023.
However, the agency found that many academic relationships survived the closures.
Of 74 institutions responding to a federal survey, 43 said they maintained relationships with Chinese universities previously associated with their Confucius Institutes. Nine continued receiving some form of support from those institutions, while eight reported that their partnerships predated the institutes.
The findings supported concerns that federal restrictions had reduced the institutes’ visible presence without necessarily eliminating Chinese institutional relationships.
At the College of William and Mary, officials closed the Confucius Institute on June 30, 2021, then established a new collaborative partnership with Beijing Normal University the following day.
The replacement arrangement retained opportunities for academic exchanges, joint research, cultural activities and student travel.
Binghamton University similarly established the Center for Theatre Arts Collaboration in December 2021 with the National Academy of Chinese Theatre Arts, its former Confucius Institute partner.
The program continued providing Chinese theater instruction and academic exchanges, with academy officials participating in its advisory structure.
Other programs moved outside universities entirely.
Western Kentucky University announced the closure of its Confucius Institute in April 2019. Within months, related activities moved into a school district arrangement supported by Hanban and North China Electric Power University.
The replacement organization, operating under the Confucius Institute of Western Kentucky name, served dozens of public schools across Kentucky.
BG Education Management Solutions, a nonprofit established by former institute director Terrill Martin, administered the program from 2019 through June 2024.
The University of Washington’s Confucius Institute underwent a separate transition, moving to Pacific Lutheran University in Tacoma in 2020 while maintaining relationships with Sichuan University and Chongqing Jiaotong University.
Chinese university records indicated that the program supported Mandarin instruction at approximately 30 elementary and middle schools across eight districts in 2022. The institute reportedly closed in summer 2026.
These arrangements demonstrate the limits of federal restrictions focused primarily on universities receiving Defense Department funding.
K-12 schools generally fall outside those prohibitions, leaving school districts with broader discretion to participate in foreign-supported language and cultural programs.
At its peak in 2017, China’s Confucius Classroom initiative supported Chinese-language instruction in approximately 501 American primary and secondary schools.
China also reorganized the international network in 2020, replacing Hanban with the Center for Language Education and Cooperation and transferring Confucius Institute oversight to the newly established Chinese International Education Foundation.
The foundation was created by Chinese universities, businesses and social organizations and registered under China’s Ministry of Civil Affairs.
At the time, the international network included more than 500 Confucius Institutes and approximately 1,170 Confucius Classrooms in 162 countries.
The restructuring allowed many overseas educational partnerships to continue after public scrutiny and legislative restrictions prompted closures in the United States.
New exchange initiatives have also emerged.
An August 2026 investigation by Defending Education examined the Young Envoys Scholarship program, which began in 2024 and supports educational travel to China.
The program reportedly attracted participants from approximately 83 American universities and 27 K-12 schools. American Heritage Schools sent 31 students and faculty members to China in 2026, with much of the travel funded through a Chinese educational exchange organization.
Supporters of international education partnerships argue that Chinese-language instruction, cultural exchanges and academic cooperation provide valuable opportunities for American students.
A separate 2019 Government Accountability Office review found that administrators at several universities maintained that they controlled academic decisions and had safeguards intended to protect academic freedom.
The agency documented both the educational benefits identified by participating institutions and the concerns raised by researchers about foreign government involvement.
The existence of a Chinese institutional partnership does not, by itself, establish espionage, unlawful conduct or improper classroom instruction.
Nevertheless, the investigations identified gaps in disclosure requirements and instances in which continued foreign relationships were difficult for parents, taxpayers and policymakers to identify.
The Pentagon’s October announcement represents the latest federal effort to address those concerns.
The Department of Defense has authority to restrict funding and designated institutional relationships, but its action does not automatically prohibit every Chinese-language program or foreign university partnership operating in the United States.
As Congress examines the remaining programs, a central issue is whether federal oversight should extend more broadly to primary and secondary schools that receive foreign educational funding or participate in partnerships connected to foreign governments.
The investigations indicate that closing Confucius Institutes did not necessarily end the educational networks they established, leaving questions about transparency, institutional independence and foreign influence unresolved.
Original article
Comments