Confucius Institute
In May 2017, the New York City based National Association of Scholars stated: “We recommend that all universities close their Confucius Institutes.”
Confucius Institutes are teaching and research centers located at colleges and universities, underwritten by the Chinese government. The Confucius Institute website says the Institutes are intended for “the promotion and dissemination of Chinese language and culture.”
However, critics have accused them of being the propaganda arm of the ruling Communist Party of China.
Since 2005, more than 100 Confucius Institutes have opened in the United States. These Institutes are largely staffed and funded by an agency of the Chinese government’s Ministry of Education—the Hanban. The Hanban also operates similarly organized Confucius Classrooms at 501 primary and secondary schools in the United States. These 600+ educational outposts comprise some 40% of China’s 1,579 Confucius Institutes and Classrooms worldwide.
The Institutes are designed to project a favorable image of China’s ruling Communist Party around the world through language and cultural programs, but restrict discussions of topics unpalatable to China’s ruling Communist Party such as the occupation of Tibet, Taiwan independence, Falun Gong, the Uyghur minority in East Turkestan, the Tiananmen Square massacre, the enormous wealth of China’s top leaders etc…
Therefore, in June 2014, the American Association of University Professors (a 47,000-member association that was founded in 1915 to guard academic freedom) called upon nearly 100 universities to “cease their involvement” with the Confucius Institutes unless major reforms are instituted.
Earlier, in 2010, Canadian intelligence stated said that Confucius Institutes are managed by China’s embassies and organize protests against Taiwan, Falun Gong and other supposed “poisons.” China’s Politburo propaganda czar Li Changchun himself boasted in 2009 that Confucius Institutes “are an important part of China’s overseas propaganda setup.”
Some schools have already closed their Confucius Institutes. The University of Chicago closed its Confucius Institutes in 2014 and Ontario’s McMaster University closed its Confucius Institute in 2013.
Because any third-party control of academic matters is inconsistent with principles of academic freedom, FAPA believes that the US Secretary of Education should direct her department to launch an official investigation into the goings on at the Confucius Institutes in the United States and into their relationships with other colleges and universities.”
孔子學院
在今年的五月，位於紐約的全美學者協會發出聲明：「我們建議所有美國大學關閉其孔子學院。」
隸屬中國政府之下的孔子學院，是設在美國大專院校內的教學與研究機構，他們的網站宣稱其使命為「促進、傳播中國語言與文化」。
然而，許多批評者指出，孔子學院已淪為目前執政的中國共產黨的宣傳部門。
自2005年以來，超過一百間孔子學院在美國開張。這些學院的人員與經費大都來自中國政府的教育部門—漢辦。漢辦也在美國五百多間中、小學中設立了類似的孔子教室；在全世界1,579 間孔子學院中，美國的這六百多個「教育前哨站」所占的比重高達 40%。
孔子學院意圖透過語言與文化教育計劃，為中國執政的中國共產黨在全世界樹立良好的形象；但是卻禁止對於中國共產黨不利的任何討論，包含：被中國占領的圖博、台灣獨立、迫害法輪功、東突厥斯坦的維吾爾人、天安門屠殺、中國高官的貪腐······等。
因此在2014年的6月，美國教授協會—一個在1915年成立、致力於維護學術自由、擁有47,000個會員的機構，呼籲近100間的美國大學，除非漢辦同意重新協議、進行機構內部改革，否則要求他們「停止參與」孔子學院的相關事務，以確實反映西方的言論自由價值。
甚至在更早的2010年，加拿大國安情報單位便曾指出孔子學院其實由中國使館所管理，組織了許多針對台灣、法輪功與其他「毒瘤」的抗議。中共的政治局常委、同時也是宣傳思想工作的重要人物李長春，便曾在2009年吹噓孔子學院是「中國境外宣傳思想工作最重要的設置之一。」
近年許多學校已經關閉其孔子學院，包含2013年的加拿大安大略省的麥克馬斯特大學，與2014年的芝加哥大學。
因此，台灣人公共事務會鑑於任何第三方對於學術的控制都與學術自由的原則相互悖離，認為美國教育部長應指示其部門，啟動對於孔子學院與美國高等教育機構關係的正式調查。
