The Pentagon designated Chinese-funded Confucius Institutes on U.S. university campuses a threat to national security on Friday, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said.
Hegseth said the department had dismantled 80 programs at 30 colleges and universities over the past two months. In a video posted on X, he said the institutes had continued under different names despite congressional restrictions, describing them as Chinese government-backed cultural programs used for propaganda. The Guardian reported that Hegseth alleged Confucius Institutes were operating in disguise on campuses.
Washington has long accused the institutes of serving as Chinese propaganda tools and has acted to restrict them, according to the Guardian.