As Scrutiny Of China Grows, Some U.S. Schools Drop A Language Program
At least 13 U.S. universities have shut down their Confucius Institutes, which are funded by China's government. Critics say the program could be used to recruit spies or steal university research.
The Defense Department wants more Americans to speak Chinese, and it provides millions of dollars to train students at U.S. universities.
China's government, through language centers known as Confucius Institutes, has been doing the same thing, for the same reasons, and at some of the same U.S. universities.
But a new law has forced these American universities to choose: They can take money from the Pentagon or from the Confucius Institute â but not both.
"Confucius Institutes expose U.S. universities to espionage, to the threat of theft of intellectual property, which we are seeing far too frequently at colleges and universities,"
