On Thursday March 4, the Senate approved by unanimous consent a bill that would increase oversight of Confucius Institutes, China-funded cultural centers that operate on university campuses.

The bill will cut federal funding to a university or college unless its Confucius Institute on campus complies with stipulated provisions, including academic freedom, prohibition of the application of any foreign law, and granting full managerial authority of the Confucius Institute to the university.

The bill, introduced by Sen. John Kennedy, R-LA, will next be sent to the House for consideration. Original cosponsors include Senators Marsha Blackburn (R-TN), Chuck Grassley (R-IA), Josh Hawley (R-MO), Rogers Marshall (R-KS), and Thom Tillis (R-NC).

On August 13, 2020, the Department of State under the Trump administration designated the Confucius Institute U.S. Center (CIUS), which serves as the Washington D.C.-based de facto headquarters of the Confucius Institute network, as a foreign mission of the People’s Republic of China.

In October, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Education Secretary Betsy DeVos jointly sent letters to the chief state school officers to warn that K-12 classrooms and universities nationwide are being targeted by the Chinese Communist Party’s influence operations, including the presence of Confucius Institutes on campus. “It may come as a surprise to many educators that hundreds of U.S. schools make use of a curriculum developed by an authoritarian government and taught by teachers who are vetted, supplied, and paid by that same government, in partnership with American schools and school districts. A review by the State Department’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs found that approval from an institution affiliated with the PRC’s Ministry of Education is generally required when filling teaching positions associated with Confucius Classrooms.”

The American Association of University Professors, or AAUP, released a report in 2014 that recommended colleges take a deeper look at curricula and agendas brought forth in the classroom.

“Confucius Institutes function as an arm of the Chinese state and are allowed to ignore academic freedom,” the statement said, also highlighting a lack of transparency. “Most agreements establishing Confucius Institutes feature nondisclosure clauses and unacceptable concessions to the political aims and practices of the government of China. Specifically, North American universities permit Confucius Institutes to advance a state agenda in the recruitment and control of academic staff, in the choice of curriculum, and in the restriction of debate.”

Source: Congress.gov
https://www.congress.gov/bill/117th-congress/senate-bill/590/text
AAUP
https://www.aaup.org/report/confucius-institutes

On Thursday March 4, the Pew Research Center released a new study that shows that roughly nine-in-ten U.S. adults (89 percent) view China as a “competitor” or an “enemy” rather than a “partner.” At the same time, most Americans support a firmer approach toward China, from prioritizing human rights issues to adopting a tougher economic and trade policy and restricting Chinese students.

The survey of 2,596 U.S. adults was conducted from February 1 through 7, 2021. Of those surveyed, 53 percent of Americans have confidence in Biden to deal effectively with China. A smaller number say they have confidence in him to handle any of the other foreign policy issues.

American’s trust toward Chinese President Xi Jinping has continued to backslide. Roughly eight-in-ten (82 percent) say they have little or no confidence in the Chinese leader.

Cold feelings toward China

A majority of Americans have negative feelings toward China, up substantially since 2018. Respondents indicated their feelings using a “feeling thermometer.” A rating of zero degrees means they feel as cold and negative as possible and a rating of 100 degrees means they feel as warm and positive as possible. A rating of 50 degrees means they don’t feel particularly positive or negative toward China. Based on this, 67 percent of Americans today feel “cold” toward China (a rating of 0 to 49). This is up 21 percentage points from the 46 percent who said the same in 2018.

Nearly half (47 percent) of Americans feel “very cold” toward China – rating it below 25 on the same 100-point scale. This is around twice as many as those who said the same thing in 2018 (23 percent). Similarly, the share of Americans who give China the lowest possible rating of zero has nearly tripled, from 9 percent in 2018 to around a quarter (24 percent) in 2021. Only 7 percent of Americans have “warm” feelings (51-75 percent) toward China and even fewer (4 percent) say they have “very warm” evaluations of the country (76-100).

Human rights a priority

Fully 90 percent of adults in the U.S. say the Chinese government does not respect the personal freedoms of its people. This perspective is shared among large majorities of Americans across age, education and political groups.

Americans also want more focus to be placed on human rights – even at the expense of economic ties – in bilateral relations with China. When asked whether the U.S. should prioritize economic relations with China or promote human rights in China, 70 percent of Americans chose human rights.

Human rights in China is also the only issue with little partisan division. About seven-in-ten Democrats and Republicans say the U.S. should promote human rights in China, even if it harms economic relations between the two countries.

Tougher stance on China economic policies

64 percent believe current economic relations between the U.S. and China are bad. 52 percent of Americans want the U.S. to get tougher with China rather than to focus on building a stronger relationship.

This opinion is particularly prevalent among Republicans and Republican-leaning independents (72 percent of whom want the U.S. to get tougher on China), and especially among those who identify as conservative Republicans (81 percent of whom say the same). About six-in-ten Democrats and Democrat-leaning independents would rather focus on building stronger ties with China, a feeling that is largely consistent among liberal and more moderate or conservative Democrats.

Limits on Chinese Students

While the U.S. public generally welcomes international students, people are more divided when it comes specifically to Chinese students. A majority of Americans (55 percent) support limiting Chinese students studying in the U.S., including about one-in-five Americans who strongly support this idea. On the other hand, 43 percent oppose limitations on Chinese students, with 18 percent strongly opposing them.

Partisan divide

Is China an enemy of the United States? This is one of the most divisive issues in terms of partisanship.

A majority of Americans describe China as a competitor (55 percent) rather than as an enemy (34 percent) or a partner (9 percent). Partisans differ substantially in their evaluations of the U.S.-China relationship. Whereas 53 percent of Republicans and independents who lean toward the Republican Party describe China as an enemy, only 20 percent of Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents say the same. Nearly two-thirds of conservative Republicans say China is an enemy (64 percent), while only 37 percent of moderate or liberal Republicans say the same.

While Democrats are more likely than Republicans to describe China as a partner, they are also more likely to describe it as a competitor, with nearly two-thirds of Democrats and Democratic leaners (65 percent) describing the relationship in this way.

When it comes to whether limiting China’s power and influence is a top priority, there is a 27-point gap between Republicans and Democrats (63 percent) among Republicans vs. (36 percent) among Democrats). This is one of the largest partisan gaps.

Partisans are also worlds apart on confidence in Biden to deal effectively with China: 83 percent from Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents, compared with only 19 percent from Republicans and Republican leaners.

Source: Pew Research Center, March 4, 2021
https://pewrsr.ch/3kOjBCf

On Tuesday March 2, Navy Rear Admiral Michael Studeman, the director of intelligence for the U.S. Indo-Pacific Command, told a virtual conference that, “We have a taste of what it means to be led by China or to have China deeply influence us.”

He said, “You’re going to find a very global, expeditionary Chinese military that will be there to step in anywhere they think China’s interests are jeopardized.” “Anywhere globally, when China feels like its development interests are threatened, what you’ll find is that they will end up sending out the PLA [People’s Liberation Army] more and more often.”

Although U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin has repeatedly called China the “pacing threat” [which refers to a competitor making significant progress toward challenging U.S. defense strategy] for the Pentagon, and even U.S. President Joe Biden has sought to rally global support to push back against Beijing, Studeman, of the U.S. Indo-Pacific Command, said U.S. officials believe China has established a clear pattern of how it will seek to assert its dominance based on developments with Hong Kong and Taiwan.

“What you’ve seen is essentially the strangulation of freedom, the death of autonomy,” the top intelligence officer said.

“That’s occurred because of how the Chinese have crushed dissent through structural, legal security measures that have essentially clamped down,” he added. “That’s the China of today. That’s what you get.”

Studeman also described how China has steadily increased pressure on Taiwan, flying drones and what he described as special mission aircraft into Taiwan’s Air Defense Identification Zone on what has become a daily basis.

The goal, he said, was to stress the Taiwanese military and to “establish a new norm with their military presence around Taiwan.”

There are concerns that current efforts to push back, like recent, so-called freedom of navigation operations, are having little impact at the moment on Chinese decision-making.

The Pentagon on Monday convened its first meeting of the newly created China Task Force, charged with reviewing Washington’s current China strategy and making recommendations within the next four months.

Source: Voice of America, March 2, 2021
https://www.voachinese.com/a/US-China-dominance-20210302/5799532.html

Radio Free Asia (RFA) Chinese Edition recently reported that the U.S. House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee swiftly passed the American Values and Security in International Athletics Act, proposed by Michael McCaul, Republican senior member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee. The Act includes a call for boycotting the Beijing Winter Olympics, a condemnation of China and the Hong Kong government’s human rights violations, and a requirement for the Secretary of State to warn the participants in the international games held in communist countries or countries with human rights violation concerns 180 days ahead of the games. The Act intends to inform the American athletes of the games host country’s human rights, privacy and security risks. A similar bill passed unanimously in the previous term of the House, but did not survive the Senate. The House is expected to pass this new Act very quickly. The Beijing Winter Olympics is coming closer. Many U.S. lawmakers proposed bills and wrote to the White House calling for a boycott. Senator Rick Scott, who proposed a similar bill in the Senate asked the White House to discuss China’s human rights records and called the International Olympics Committee for a change of location of the 2022 Winter Olympics.

Source: RFA Chinese, February 25, 2021
https://www.rfa.org/mandarin/yataibaodao/junshiwaijiao/cm-02252021143107.html