Back‘Systematically dismantled’: Hegseth’s new offensive against China’s Confucius Institutes

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‘Systematically dismantled’: Hegseth’s new offensive against China’s Confucius Institutes

Pete Hegseth says the Pentagon has added new Chinese government-backed campus organizations to its national security threat list.

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US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth announced that the Pentagon has added Chinese government-backed campus organisations operating under new names to its national security threat list.

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Why It Matters

Confucius Institutes and similar organizations have long faced scrutiny and criticism from US critics regarding soft power and espionage concerns.

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Long viewed by critics as instruments of Beijing’s soft power and cultural diplomacy, the institutes are back in the crosshairs of US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth, who says the Pentagon has “systematically dismantled” organisations that resurfaced under new names.

Hegseth announced on Friday that the Pentagon had added what he described as Chinese government-backed organisations operating on American campuses to its list of institutions deemed threats to national security.

“Eighty 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 in a video posted to his official “Secretary of War” social media account.

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What are the specific new names used by these organizations?
Which 30 universities are hosting these groups?

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‘Systematically dismantled’: Hegseth’s new offensive against China’s Confucius Institutes

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