The U.S. Department of Defense has classified the Confuci Institutes, cultural centres funded by China at universities, as a threat to national security, Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth said on Friday.

According to Reuters, Washington has long accused these institutes of serving as instruments of Chinese propaganda and has taken measures to limit their activities.

In a video published on social networks, Hegseth claimed that organisations linked to these institutes had continued activity in American universities with different names and statutes.

It turns out that 80 new propaganda cells had emerged at 30 universities using different names and statutes, but on the same mission: to steal intellectual property and infiltrate American students’ minds, he said.

Hegseth also stated that, over the past two months, the Department of Defence had been working to dismantle these organisations.

Confucii institutions are present in the Western Balkan countries, including Albania. There is no such institute in Kosovo, while China does not recognise its independence and does not have official representation in Pristina.

Source Layer: Dukeagini