{"id":306427,"date":"2021-03-25T05:15:23","date_gmt":"2021-03-25T09:15:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=306427"},"modified":"2021-03-25T05:15:25","modified_gmt":"2021-03-25T09:15:25","slug":"as-biden-admin-caves-on-confucius-institute-tennessee-moves-to-pick-up-slack","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/as-biden-admin-caves-on-confucius-institute-tennessee-moves-to-pick-up-slack\/","title":{"rendered":"As Biden Admin Caves on Confucius Institute, Tennessee Moves to Pick Up Slack"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"float:left\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">26<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fas-biden-admin-caves-on-confucius-institute-tennessee-moves-to-pick-up-slack%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=306427&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><div><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/fb_image-3359.jpeg\" class=\"ff-og-image-inserted\" \/><\/div>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">As the federal response to Chinese influence at American universities falters, Tennessee is determined to pick up the slack by becoming the first state to ban the Chinese government-funded Confucius Institute from public universities.<br \/>\n<\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"posts-content__category-widget md:hidden -ml-4 -mr-4 my-8 px-4 py-6 bg-gray-100\">\n<h4 class=\"mt-0 text-red-600 font-medium font-sans uppercase\">Recent Stories in Campus<\/h4>\n<ul class=\"list-none p-0 \">\n<li class>\n\t\t\t\t<a class=\"text-black block mb-3 pb-3 border-b border-white\" href=\"https:\/\/freebeacon.com\/national-security\/as-biden-caves-to-higher-ed-lobby-tennessee-seeks-to-ban-china-funded-confucius-institute\/\"><strong>As Biden Admin Caves on Confucius Institute, Tennessee Moves to Pick Up Slack<\/strong><\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/li>\n<li class>\n\t\t\t\t<a class=\"text-black block mb-3 pb-3 border-b border-white\" href=\"https:\/\/freebeacon.com\/campus\/skidmore-college-reverses-course-clears-the-way-for-pro-israel-club\/\"><strong>Skidmore College Reverses Course, Clears the Way for Pro-Israel Club<\/strong><\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/li>\n<li class>\n\t\t\t\t<a class=\"text-black block mb-3 pb-3 border-b border-white\" href=\"https:\/\/freebeacon.com\/campus\/san-francisco-school-board-member-refuses-to-resign-after-anti-asian-tweets-are-revealed\/\"><strong>San Francisco School Board Member Refuses to Resign After Anti-Asian Tweets Are Revealed<\/strong><\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<p>\t<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">After President Joe Biden scrapped<\/span> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">a Trump-era proposal that would have required universities to disclose their foreign monetary ties, Governor Bill Lee realized that he needed to act quickly to protect the state&#8217;s universities from Chinese influence. The Tennessee Republican introduced a bill in the state legislature that would require the public universities to sever ties with the Confucius Institute.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">&#8220;The Biden administration has rolled back the transparency that was put in place by the Trump administration, so we want to take care of that at the state level,&#8221; Lee told the <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Washington Free Beacon <\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">in a Tuesday morning interview.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Tennessee bill is one of several state-level initiatives that seek to curtail foreign influence on American campuses. The <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/capitol.texas.gov\/BillLookup\/History.aspx?LegSess=87R&amp;Bill=SB1779\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Texas<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> and <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/le.utah.gov\/~2021\/bills\/hbillint\/HJR008.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Utah<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> legislatures are debating bills that seek to close down Confucius Institute programs in state universities, according to a list of ongoing legislation maintained by the National Association of Scholars. Four other states are also considering bills with a wider scope, including measures to ban public universities from partnering not just with the Confucius Institute but with any &#8220;communist regimes&#8221; or &#8220;the government of China.&#8221;<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The spate of anti-Confucius Institute legislation is a sign that states are taking matters into their own hands as the Biden administration drags its feet in responding to foreign influence. The Trump-era Department of Education <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www2.ed.gov\/policy\/highered\/leg\/foreign-gifts.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">opened<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> 13 investigations into the foreign ties of American universities between February 2020 and January 2021. The Biden White House has so far opened zero investigations. Elite U.S. colleges, a key constituent for the Biden administration, have spent thousands of dollars <a href=\"https:\/\/freebeacon.com\/campus\/colleges-lobby-biden-to-halt-federal-probe-into-foreign-donations\/\">lobbying<\/a> the Democratic administration to halt federal probes into their multimillion-dollar partnership with China and other human rights abusers. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The White House is not solely to blame for the lackluster federal response. House Democrats have also blocked the passage of sweeping legislation against the Confucius Institute. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D., Calif.) <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/freebeacon.com\/2020-election\/pelosi-stonewalls-china-bill-senate-dems-unanimously-supported\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">refused<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> to hold a vote on an anti-Confucius Institute bill that unanimously passed in the Senate in 2020.&nbsp;<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Lee said states must step up amid federal inaction.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">&#8220;National security is a state issue as well,&#8221; the governor said. &#8220;It&#8217;s increasingly a state issue when the federal government is not keeping a strong defense.&#8221;<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Tennessee already leads the way in the nationwide effort to shut down the Confucius Institute. The state&#8217;s public universities\u2014which together received more than $2.5 million from Confucius Institute and its affiliates\u2014are in the process of shutting down the Chinese government program. The bill&#8217;s passage will ensure that the Confucius Institute will not be able to establish any foothold in Tennessee.&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Growing government and public scrutiny has greatly diminished the influence of the Confucius Institute, which today counts 51 branches in universities down from an all-time high of 103. But the Chinese government program continues to draw up new schemes to avoid scrutiny. On some campuses it has&nbsp;<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/freebeacon.com\/campus\/china-backed-confucius-institute-rebrands-to-avoid-scrutiny\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">adopted<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> new names, though the substance of the program remains identical, to avoid detection.&nbsp;<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Lee said he has made amendments to his bill to cover all iterations of the Confucius Institute program. But he warns that the re-branding effort is a sign that the Chinese government will continue to find new ways to influence American civil society.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">&#8220;This is not an issue that&#8217;s going to be quickly resolved or quickly fixed,&#8221; he said. &#8220;This is an issue that we&#8217;re going to have to watch for months or years.&#8221;<\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"my-8 hide-print\">\n\t\t<!-- \/339474670\/Freebeacon\/InContent --><\/p>\n<div id=\"div-gpt-ad-1526555381173-4\" class=\"mobile-250 desktop-90\"><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>As the federal response to Chinese influence at American universities falters, Tennessee is determined to pick up the slack by becoming the first state to ban the Chinese government-funded Confucius &#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2311113,"comment_status":"close","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/fb_image-3359.jpeg","fifu_image_alt":"As Biden Admin Caves on Confucius Institute, Tennessee Moves to Pick Up Slack","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-306427","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/fb_image-3359.jpeg","fifu_image_alt":"As Biden Admin Caves on Confucius Institute, Tennessee Moves to Pick Up Slack","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/306427","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=306427"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/306427\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2311113"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=306427"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=306427"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=306427"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}