Think tank says China’s communist party targeting US school districts with nearly $20 million in influence operations

Parents Defending Education (PED) has released a report that shows China’s Communist Party (CCP) spending over $17 million on programs inside American K-12 classrooms, some of them near military bases.

In targeting science and technology high schools and high schools near military bases, the CCP is suspected by some of grooming a younger generation of Americans into being used for Chinese efforts at infiltrating America.

The spending reported by PED is a part of efforts by the Confucius Institutes, a CCP-controlled group at the collegiate level.

Confucius has so alarmed security officials in the United States that in 2021 Congress banned American universities hosting such groups from receiving federal defense dollars.

“U.S. taxpayer dollars should not be benefiting the CCP and its murderous regime. Confucius Institutes, which are directed by Beijing, have plagued college campuses in our nation with the CCP’s propaganda. There is no reason why the DoD should support these institutes,” said Sen. Marco Rubio.  

Rubio is ranking member of the Congressional-Executive Commission on China, a senior member of the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, and the vice chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee.  

These so-called “Confucius Classrooms” are operating at 143 schools around the U.S. in 34 states and the District of Columbia, said PED.  

PED also says three of the top science and technology high schools in the U.S. have ties to the Confucius programs.   

Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology in Virginia has had ties to Tsinghua University High School, the high school affiliated with one of China’s top military schools, Tsinghua University.  

Simpson County Public Schools in Kentucky entered into an agreement with North China Electric Power University to operate Western Kentucky University’s Confucius Institute.   

North Carolina School of Science and Mathematics received a “Confucius Classroom of the Year” award from Confusius group in 2018. 

National security and law-enforcement officials have long warned about CCP theft of American intellectual property and defense secrets at the university level.  

“China’s efforts target businesses, academic institutions, researchers, lawmakers, and the general public and will require a whole-of-society response,” said the FBI. “The government and the private sector must commit to working together to better understand and counter the threat.”  

That threat apparently now includes American high school, middle school and elementary school students. 

Former South Carolina governor and UN ambassador Nikki Haley said the money going into American classrooms by the CCP is especially alarming given the fentanyl crisis that’s also being funded by Chinese money. 

“Over the past few weeks, Americans watched Joe Biden send not one, not two, but three members of his administration to China to make nice with the Chinese Communist Party,” Haley said in a campaign email, according to Fox News. “Did any of these taxpayer-funded trips result in China agreeing to stop the flow of fentanyl precursors to America? No. The officials cowered and bowed, and China told them to take a hike.” 

PED is calling on state and federal officials to immediately investigate the Confucius Classrooms to determine just exactly what benefit the public is gaining from allowing them in American classrooms.  

“State and federal officials should immediately begin investigations to determine the scope of China’s involvement, influence, and access to our K-12 student information and curriculum,” said PED in its report. “This report should be made public once complete, so parents can make informed decisions on their children’s involvement in these controversial programs.”