A Marylandi Egyetem bejelenti Konfuciusz Intézetének megszűnését

2020. január 22./Phayul.com/TibetPress

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By Choekyi Lhamo

DHARAMSHALA, JAN 21: University of Maryland (UMD) announced the termination of its Confucius Institute (CI) on Friday due to government regulations, reports Taiwan News. UMD President Wallace Loh said that the school could no longer offer Chinese programs, mostly funded by the Chinese Military of Education, after the 2019-20 academic year. The university had already informed the CI headquarters in Beijing about their termination of partnership.

UMD established its first CI in 2004 which was initially aimed to promote the Chinese language and enhance exchange between the students from US and China. Since the inception of these institutes in the US, there have been allegations of “political influence” on academics and turning American students pro-Communist. The most sensitive topics that were prohibited at the CIs were Taiwan’s independence and Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP’s) inhumane acts against the Tibetans.

US government passed the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2018 (NDAA 2018) to protect their national interests. The Act took effect last summer; the legislation prevents universities that received Chinese funding for CI programs to apply for Department of Defense funding. UMD is not the first university to shut down its Chinese programs due to federal pressure.

More than 100 CIs are operating in the major U.S. colleges. Pennsylvania State University and the University of Chicago among others have cut ties with the Chinese government-funded institute citing undue China-centric influences. CIs have been criticized as the Chinese government’s unofficial propaganda arm that has infiltrated many education systems and organizations around the globe. As US-China tensions continue to escalate, more universities are expected to terminate their CI programs to avoid association with the Asian superpower.