Pentagon designates Confucius Institutes a national security threat

Pete Hegseth says 80 ‘propaganda cells’ at 30 universities reappeared under new names and have been dismantled.

The United States Department of Defense has designated Confucius Institutes, Chinese-funded cultural centres on university campuses, as a threat to US national security.

US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced the move on Friday in a video posted on social media, saying the Pentagon added the organisations to its list of institutions that threaten national security.

Recommended Stories

• list 1 of 3No ‘turmoil’ at the White House
• list 2 of 3US-Ukraine relations sour as Trump, Zelenskyy clash over talks, arms
• list 3 of 3Hegseth meets Netanyahu on unannounced Israel visit

Washington has long accused the centres of serving as Chinese propaganda tools and has taken steps to crack down on them.

Hegseth said Confucian Institutes had operated in disguise after being banned by Congress, calling them “sleeper organisations”.

“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,” he said.

In the video, Hegseth said the Chinese government-backed cultural programmes had infiltrated universities and that although Congress had banned them, they reappeared in new guises.

Over the past two months, the Pentagon has “systematically dismantled every single one of these organisations”, he said.

The Chinese embassy in Washington did not respond to Reuters’ request for comment.