University of Hawaii expected to shutter Confucius Institute

The University of Hawaii’s China-funded Confucius Institute is expected to close — following a pattern at other higher education institutions around the country — amid accusations that the programs are a Chinese propaganda tool at a time when the United States is embroiled in a new Cold War with the rising Asian power.

Testifying before a Senate panel last year, FBI Director Christopher Wray said the institutes were “something we’re watching warily” with “appropriate investigative steps” taken in some cases.

The National Defense Authorization Act of 2019 prohibits the use of defense funding for language programs at colleges or universities that also host Confucius Institutes — except in cases where Defense Department waivers are granted.

As of Wednesday, the Pentagon said 13 requests to keep Confucius Institutes had been received — UH’s among them — with no waivers granted.

The Defense Department determined it is “not in the national interest” to provide waivers, spokesperson Lisa Lawrence said.

UH spokesman Dan Meisenzahl said the university received $2.1 million in Defense Department funding over the past six fiscal years for its Chinese language “flagship” program. The effort is part of the National Security Education Program.

The university receives millions in additional Pentagon funding that might be in jeopardy if UH kept its Confucius Institute.

“The DOD funding is significant,” he said. “As far as what’s going to happen next and how (regarding the Confucius Institute), we’re just finalizing those details.”

Controversial from their start at the University of Maryland in 2004, Confucius Institutes were intended to promote Chinese language and culture.

About 100 of the programs sprung up nationwide. UH opened the sixth Confucius Institute in 2006.

In 2015, the UH program, at its Center for Chinese Studies, was designated a “model” Confucius Institute by the People’s Republic of China Ministry of Education, and awarded $1 million. The university said it planned to renovate classroom space for Chinese language and culture programs.

According to a February Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations report, the Chinese government has provided more than $158 million to more than 100 schools since 2006. The institutes are controlled, funded and mostly staffed by the Chinese government.

UH previously said the Confucius Institute supported language credit courses and offered non-credit courses as well as research seminars, speakers, film screenings, exhibitions, performance tours and school visitations.

“The Confucius Institute has always been a valued component of our work to provide education and outreach in Chinese language and culture,” Meisenzahl said. The UH effort has “advanced dynamic programs and dialogue regarding U.S.-Sino relations and maintained American standards of academic freedom.”

Meisenzahl added, “There have never been any indications or even allegations of propaganda influence” at the institute.

U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio, a Florida Republican, said at the intelligence hearing last year that Confucius Institutes were “complicit” in efforts to “influence public opinion and teach half-truths designed to present Chinese history, government or official policy in the most favorite light.”

Wray, the FBI director, cited the use of Chinese “nontraditional collectors” including professors, scientists and students and the “naivete on the part of the academic sector” toward it.

Sen. Tom Carper, a Delaware Democrat, said in February, in conjunction with the release of the Senate report, that there was no evidence the Confucius Institutes were centers for Chinese spying.

“We must have our eyes wide open about the presence of these institutes in our schools,” he said.

Kerry K. Gershaneck, a visiting scholar at National Chengchi University in Taiwan and specializing in Chinese political warfare, said Hawaii “is a target-rich environment” for Chinese espionage.

Oahu is home to the most senior U.S. military headquarters in the Indo-Pacific region.

“China spies on its own students and researchers at universities here, as it does worldwide,” Gershaneck said. The primary focus of China’s “pervasive” espionage operations in Hawaii is national security, economic and political influence information.

Universities such as UH can provide access to the research, intellectual property, technology and potential future intelligence assets that China’s spies seek, Gershaneck said.