Confucius Institutes are billed by the Chinese Communist Party as benevolent language and culture programs and once numbered more than 100 on U.S. campuses across the country. But intelligence officials, members of Congress, and the Trump administration accused them of being an arm of the Chinese Communist Party, used for propaganda and malign foreign influence purposes. In part one of this series, China on Campus, the Washington Examiner looks at how the once-ubiquitous institutions have waned over the past couple of years, shrinking in size and disappearing from dozens of colleges — including an Ivy League school once seen as its flagship program.
The Chinese Communist Party-linked Confucius Institutes are collapsing in the United States, falling from over 100 to just over a couple dozen in a few years thanks to pressure from the Trump administration and growing concern within the U.S. government about the challenge posed by Chinese influence at U.S. colleges and universities.
The U.S. government considers Confucius Institutes to be part of the Chinese government’s numerous and varied foreign influence operations, and the Trump administration increased pressure against the groups, including labeling their center in the nation’s capital to be a “foreign mission” of Beijing. While the number of Confucius Institutes in the U.S. numbered over 100 just a few years ago, they have now dwindled to what the State Department says is just 27 university sponsors currently operating exchange visitor programs affiliated with the Chinese organization, though that might not fully capture a number of other Confucius Institute partnerships the group has in the U.S.
Perhaps the starkest example of the downfall of Confucius Institutes on U.S. campuses is the previously unreported revelation that Columbia University, the only Ivy League school which had such an institute, recently, and quietly, closed the institute after nearly a decade of operation. The website for Columbia’s Confucius Institute was pulled sometime after late January, and Caroline Adelman, the media relations director at Columbia, told the Washington Examiner: “We no longer host a Confucius Institute.”
She did not provide answers to the Washington Examiner’s initial questions about concerns related to Chinese influence operations, nor did she immediately respond to follow-up questions.
Columbia’s website still lists its Confucius Institute as an affiliate of the Department of East Asian Languages and Cultures, describing the institute as “a research partnership that aims to advance our understanding of Chinese culture, transnational China, modern China, and the teaching of Chinese as a second language.” But the link to the Confucius Institute’s own Columbia page is now dead.
A Columbia professor named Wei Dedong was listed as the program coordinator for Columbia’s Confucius Institute on its now-defunct website as recently as January 2018. What appears to be Wei’s LinkedIn page still lists him as the “Chinese Director of Confucius Institute – Columbia University.” China’s Renmin University, located in Beijing, said in December 2019 that Wei was “appointed as” a “special expert on religious affairs of the Central United Front Work Department.” The Free Beacon noted Wei’s ties to the United Front back in December.
Numerous security experts and U.S. government officials have warned that the United Front Work Department is part of the Chinese government’s foreign influence efforts, with the U.S. China Economic and Security Review Commission’s August 2018 report contending that “China uses what it calls ‘United Front’ work to co-opt and neutralize sources of potential opposition to the policies and authority of its ruling Chinese Communist Party” and that United Front-related organizations” are playing an increasingly important role in China’s broader foreign policy” under Xi Jinping — who has called United Front work a “magic weapon” for bringing about “the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation.” The report said that “a number of official and quasi-official entities conduct overseas activities guided or funded by the United Front” — including Confucius Institutes.
Then-Secretary of State Mike Pompeo revoked visas for agents of the United Front Work Department in December, saying it “funds and supports overseas organizations to spread propaganda and coerces and bullies those who would oppose Beijing’s policies.”
Columbia listed Wei as an associate professor at the School of Philosophy and Director of the International Center for Buddhist Studies at Renmin University, noting he was also “a Visiting Scholar of East Asian Languages and Cultures at the Confucius Institute” at Columbia. The school touted a November 2017 talk by him on “The New Revisions to China’s Regulations on Religious Affairs.” Renmin University described Wei as “the Chinese dean of the Confucius Institute at Columbia University” in 2019 when promoting a February 2019 talk he had given at the “2019 China-U.S.-Canada Buddhism Symposium” at Fa Wang Temple in New York City.
A State Department spokesperson told the Washington Examiner that its Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs “monitors the U.S. organizations designated by the Department to sponsor exchange visitors,” and “in the course of administering the exchange visitor program regulations, the Department has identified approximately 27 university sponsors that currently operate exchange visitor programs in affiliation with Confucius Institutes,” which it said was “down from 44 at the start of 2021.” The State Department is “aware that many U.S. universities are choosing to end their affiliation with Confucius Institutes as more information becomes available about the Institutes’ day-to-day activities, including some whose activities represent possible regulatory violations of the University’s exchange visitor program.”
The spokesperson was not able to provide the exact list of schools that still have operating Confucius Institutes, referring the Washington Examiner to the Confucius Institute U.S. Center “and others that track them,” like the National Association of Scholars.
Erik Eging, the director of external communications at the CIUS Center, told the Washington Examiner that “as we are not a headquarters we do not keep running tabs on the number of independent CI’s operating across the country.”
The NAS, a conservative-leaning public advocacy group, says that, as of April 27, it counted 50 currently active Confucius Institutes in the U.S., with 44 of them at colleges and universities, five at K-12 public school districts, and one at a private educational group called the China Institute. The NAS released a report in 2017 in which it “counted 103 Confucius Institutes in the United States” at the time. The group says now that, by its count, 77 institutes have closed or are in the process of closing — a number which the Washington Examiner can say is even higher.
The NAS reported that the institute at Stony Brook University is slated to close in May, Central Connecticut State University and Colorado State University in June, Portland State University on July 27, the University of Southern Maine on June 10, the College of William and Mary on June 30, the University of New Hampshire on July 30, Tufts University in September, Emory University in November, and Bryant University and Alabama A&M University at yet-unclear dates. The group also said that St. Cloud State University’s institute is “paused” while the university carries out a review.
After reaching out to all 50 schools on the NAS’s active list, the Washington Examiner found that, beyond Columbia, five more schools are also scheduled to close soon, including at the University of Wisconsin-Platteville on May 21, West Virginia University in June, Binghamton University on July 9, Cleveland State University in September, and Michigan State University at the end of 2021. The College of Optometry at the State University of New York is also reviewing the status of its institute.
Troy University is notable as the only school with a remaining institute that, at the time of publication, said definitively that its institute will remain open as it defended the partnership, though most other schools have not responded to requests for comment.
The Education Department’s online tracker says Columbia has received more than $689 million in foreign gifts and contracts over the years, including nearly $62 million that is of Chinese origin, including over $17.6 million from Chinese sources in 2020 alone.
A 2013 article by Chinese state-run China Daily celebrated the opening of Columbia’s Confucius Institute as part of a partnership with Renmin University, writing that, in 2010, Hanban had “pledged Columbia $1 million to be distributed to the institute over five years to fund its research projects and Chinese culture events.” During the ceremony marking the announcement, the outlet reported that Xu Lin, the director-general of the Hanban, reportedly said, “People ask me, why Columbia? Because Columbia has a very strong Chinese department and a strong program for teaching Chinese.” The outlet said that Xu presented the Columbia President Lee Bollinger with gifts, including “a book, a tie, artwork on a scroll, and a crystal-plate emblem” after the Confucius Institute plaque was unveiled, and Bollinger joked, “OK, no more gifts.”
In August, the State Department designated the Confucius Institute U.S. Center in Washington, D.C., as a “foreign mission” of the Chinese Communist Party, and Pompeo and former Education Secretary Betsy DeVos joined forces in October to warn that K-12 classrooms and universities nationwide are being targeted by Chinese influence operations.
Eging, the CIUS Center spokesman, told the Washington Examiner, “As for the designation, we are currently contesting it as it has no legal basis. Unfortunately, the Department of State got their facts wrong. We have continued to work with them in a good faith effort to provide transparency with regards to our organization, our mission, and our belief in people to people exchanges between both the U.S. and China. As a predominantly American staff, we have no interest in spreading ‘soft power’ on behalf of a foreign country and are far more concerned with helping Americans master a notoriously difficult language.”
The Biden State Department spokesperson told the Washington Examiner that the CIUS Center “promotes the activities of Confucius Institutes in the United States” and that “that determination remains in place today.” The spokesperson emphasized that the State Department “has ongoing concerns about the overseas influence and global propaganda activities of the PRC government, including through Confucius Institutes, that might affect academic freedom in the United States” and that “many of these malign activities lack transparency and attempt to hide or downplay their affiliation with the PRC government and the CCP.”
Confucius Institute List (with some data sourced from the National Association of Scholars)
Troy University
Founded: October 2007
Chinese Partner: Hebei Normal University of Science and Technology
Status: Open
Alabama A&M University
Founded: 2014
Chinese Partner: Nanjing Forestry University
Status: Scheduled to close at a yet-unknown date — The institute’s website deactivated sometime after February 2021
University of Central Arkansas
Founded: 2008
Chinese Partner: East China Normal University
Status: Open
San Diego Global Knowledge University (had been at San Diego State University)
Founded: 2019
Chinese Partner: Xiamen University
Status: Open
Stanford University
Founded: 2013
Chinese Partner: Peking University
Status: Open
University of California – Santa Barbara
Founded: 2014
Chinese Partner: Shandong University
Status: Unclear — website was deactivated sometime after June 2020
Colorado State University
Founded: 2012
Chinese Partner: Hunan University
Status: Scheduled to close on June 30, 2021
Central Connecticut State University
Founded: 2013
Chinese Partner: Shandong Normal University
Status: Closing on June 30, 2021
George Washington University
Founded: 2013
Chinese Partner: Nanjing University
Status: Open
Emory University
Founded: 2008
Chinese Partner: Nanjing University
Status: Closing in November 2021
Wesleyan College
Founded: 2013
Chinese Partner: Guangzhou University
Status: Open
Northwest Nazarene University
Founded: 2015
Chinese Partner: Northwest University
Status: Unclear — website was pulled sometime after September 2020
Valpraiso University
Founded: 2007
Chinese Partner: Zhejiang University of Technology
Status: Open
Xavier University of Louisiana
Founded: 2012
Chinese Partner: Hebei University
Status: Open
Tufts University
Founded: 2014
Chinese Partner: Beijing Normal University
Status: Closing in September 2021
University of Southern Maine
Founded: 2014
Chinese Partner: Dongbei University of Finance and Economics
Status: Closing on June 10, 2021
Michigan State University
Founded: 2006
Chinese Partner: The Open University of China
Status: Closing by end of 2021
St. Cloud State University
Founded: 2013
Chinese Partner: The Education Department of Jilin Province
Status: Confucius Institute is “paused” while a review is conducted — website was removed sometime after August
Webster University
Founded: 2007
Chinese Partner: Beijing Language and Culture University
Status: Open
University of New Hampshire
Founded: 2010
Chinese Partner: Chengdu University
Status: Closing on June 30, 2021
New Jersey City University
Founded: 2015
Chinese Partner: Jilin Huaqiao University of Foreign Languages
Status: Open
Medgar Evers College
Founded: 2019
Chinese Partner: Hunan University of Technology and Business
Status: Open
Alfred University
Founded: 2009
Chinese Partner: China University of Geosciences in Wuhan, China
Status: Open
Stony Brook University
Founded: 20210
Chinese Partner: Zhongnan University of Economics and Law
Status: Closing on May 5, 2021
State University of New York – Albany
Founded: 2013
Chinese Partner: Southwestern University of Finance and Economics
Status: Open
College of Optometry – State University of New York
Founded: 2010
Chinese Partner: Wenzhou Medical University
Status: Undergoing a university review
State University of New York Global Center
Founded: 2010
Chinese Partner: Nanjing University Of Finance & Economics
Status: Open
State University of New York at Buffalo
Founded: 2010
Chinese Partner: Capital Normal University
Status: Open
Binghamton University
Founded: 2009
Chinese Partner: National Academy of Chinese Theatre Arts
Status: Closing on July 9, 2021
Baruch University
Founded: 2017
Chinese Partner: Shanghai International Studies University
Status: Open
University of Akron
Founded: 2008
Chinese Partner: Henan University
Status: Open
Cleveland State University
Founded: 2008
Chinese Partner: Capital University of Economics and Business
Status: Closing in September 2021
University of Toledo
Founded: 2009
Chinese Partner: Yanshan University
Status: Open
Portland State University
Founded: 2007
Chinese Partner: Soochow University
Status: Closing on July 27, 2021
Temple University
Founded: 2014
Chinese Partner: Zhejiang Normal University
Status: Open
Bryant University
Founded: 2007
Chinese Partner: China University of Geosciences in Wuhan, China
Status: University will not reapply for funding but unclear on whether it will close
Presbyterian College
Founded: 2009
Chinese Partner: Guizhou University
Status: Open
University of Utah
Founded: 2010
Chinese Partner: Sichuan University
Status: Open
Southern Utah University
Founded: 2015
Chinese Partner: Hunan Normal University
Status: Open
College of William & Mary
Founded: 2012
Chinese Partner: Beijing Normal University
Status: Will close on June 30, 2021
Pacific Lutheran University
Founded: 2010
Chinese Partner: Sichuan University and Chongqing Education Commission
Status: Open
University of Wisconsin – Platteville
Founded: 2007
Chinese Partner: South-Central University For Nationalities
Status: Closing on May 21, 2021
West Virginia University
Founded: 2014
Chinese Partner: Tianjin University Of Finance & Economics
Status: Closing in June 2021
Chicago Public Schools
Founded: 2005
Chinese Partner: East China Normal University
Status: Open
China Institute
Founded: 2005
Chinese Partner: East China Normal University
Status: Open
East Central Ohio Educational Service Center
Founded: Unclear
Chinese Partner: Unclear — part of the Great Lakes Chinese Consortium
Status: Open
Houston Independent School District —
Founded: Unclear
Chinese Partner: Unclear
Status: Unclear — website pulled after January 2021
Davis School District
Founded: Unclear
Chinese Partner: Unclear
Status: Open
Simpson County Schools
Founded: 2019
Chinese Partner: Unclear
Status: Open
