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The National Associations of Scholars (NAS) has released a new report called "Outsourced To China" which reveals that the Chinese government has been planting teaching and research centers known as "Confucius Institutes" on campuses across the US.
The purpose of the centers is to spread propaganda on US campuses.
Seattle Public Schools and the University of Washington have signed an agreement with the Ministry of Education of China (Hanban) allowing these "Confucius Institutes" to operate.
NAS has found reason for concern.
Yesterday, the Seattle Times reported that Mayor Ed Murray has withdrawn from the race for re-election as Mayor of Seattle. The Times began with this: "Mayor Ed Murray ended his campaign for re-election Tuesday — bowing out of a race that not long ago he was expected to win easily, shutting the door on a second term in Seattle’s highest office and aborting a political career that’s spanned decades. "
The NAS has released a new report called "Outsourced to China" which reveals some sobering facts about these institutes.
The report outlines 4 causes for concern:
- intellectual freedom
- transparency
- entanglement
- soft power
Since 2004, the Communist Chinese government has been planting these teaching and research "Confucius Institutes" (CIs) around the world, including more than 100 in the US.
The CI's are presented as centers that offer "Chinese language and cultural courses for college credit," however, in fact, they are educating a generation of American students to know nothing more of China's history than the regime's official history.
Rachelle Peterson, director of research at NAS, who authored the report, appeared on the American Family Radio program "Sandy Rios in the Morning."
She says, "China spends more than $10 billion annually on overseas propaganda.Confucius Institutes are a large part of that."
Peterson says, "The Chinese government spends several million dollars every year funding American college classes and funding teachers and textbooks that they can control in the US."
If you read the report linked above, and you should, you will note the quote of a former head of propaganda for the Chinese Communist Party who says these institutes are "an important part of China's overseas propaganda set-up."
Peterson says their studies show that China will not allow any opposition or disagreement with the government be a part of what is taught in these "Institutes"---things like Tiananmen Square, the truth about Mao or how Christians are still persecuted in China.
In its report, NAS recommends that all universities close their Confucius Institutes and end all contracts with the Hanban. They are also calling for our government to investigate the centers.
Both the University of Washington and Seattle Public Schools host Institutes and have an agreement with the Chinese government.
Be informed---Be aware.
I'll leave you with a reason to smile---if you are a Christian. If you are not, you may not care about the following.
There is a kind of "Tale of Two Cities" aspect to the matter of China and its message to the world.
Mao Zedong, the former head of China's Communist Party, was a ruthless leader (this is of course not taught at the Confucius Institutes). In the 1960s, Mao launched the "Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution" in which he severely persecuted all religious people, particularly Christians.
Churches and temples were destroyed, pastors and Catholic priests---and other religious leaders---were beaten, killed or sent to harsh labor camps.
His teachings were published in a little Red Book, which many kids of that generation carried around, treating it like some kind of "gospel."
Chairman Mao's Little Red Book was printed by the millions. It was 4 by 6 inches, designed to "fit into the back pocket of jeans worn in the West."
I can't tell you how many discussions I had with "enlightened" teenagers during the late 60s and 70s who had read "the book" and "saw the light" of communism and Mao's teachings.
I noticed yesterday that Amazon has only 38 of Mao's Little Red Books for sale. They're all used, but they lie on the shelf waiting to victimize yet another seeker.
Mao was born in the Hunan province where as a young boy he embraced radical, totalitarian communist ideologies.
Mao's campaign to fundamentally change his country was known as "The Great Leap" forward, but actually millions died under his hand. Even Pol Pot's regime in Cambodia didn't kill as many as Mao did.
During this period, religious people, then intellectuals, and those with foreign ties, then ultimately everyone was targeted for mandatory "re-education."
Today, a short distance from Mao's birthplace, a massive Christian church is being built, and when completed, will be bigger than "even the biggest statue of Mao Zedong in China" the builders say---the big Mao statue is less than 10 miles away.
One pastor says there are more than 100,000 Christians in the city.
Obviously, there is opposition, but many say this is a reflection of what is really happening internally in China.
In an article in the Atlantic, not a Christian or conservative publication, Ian Johnson writes that the Chinese are turning to religion as a source of values to help reorganize their society.
And it is more than that. It is a true spiritual revival sweeping across the country.
While the official Chinese government is painting one picture of how things are back home, "back home" is telling a very different story.
There are hundreds of thousands of "house churches" all across the country. Johnson says these groups are driving real change in the country through a Christian "religious revolution."
The unregistered house churches are so organized, they are now beginning to worship in public, thus leading to what some are calling the new church building "A Monument To Jesus."
They are training and sending out Christian missionaries in their own country.
Millions of Chinese are discovering the Truth---and the Truth is setting them free.
Give Thanks. Be Blessed.