{"id":637248,"date":"2021-08-12T13:21:55","date_gmt":"2021-08-12T17:21:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=637248"},"modified":"2021-08-12T13:21:57","modified_gmt":"2021-08-12T17:21:57","slug":"indiana-ag-investigates-valparaiso-universitys-china-ties","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/indiana-ag-investigates-valparaiso-universitys-china-ties\/","title":{"rendered":"Indiana AG Investigates Valparaiso University\u2019s China Ties"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">14<\/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%2Findiana-ag-investigates-valparaiso-universitys-china-ties%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=637248&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 readability=\"28.681481481481\">\n\t\t\t<span class=\"article-category\"><a class href=\"https:\/\/freebeacon.com\/campus\/\">Campus<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"article-excerpt\">Todd Rokita slams &#8216;negligent&#8217; administrators who let China influence students<\/p>\n<figure class=\"post-thumbnail-container relative lg:mr-24 w-full my-4 mb-8\">\n\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"736\" height=\"356\" src=\"https:\/\/s3.freebeacon.com\/up\/2021\/08\/Screen-Shot-2021-08-12-at-11.47.52-AM-736x356.png\" class=\"w-full lazyload blur-up wp-post-image\" alt srcset=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 736px) 100vw, 736px\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/freebeacon.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/Screen-Shot-2021-08-12-at-11.47.52-AM-736x356.png 736w, https:\/\/freebeacon.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/Screen-Shot-2021-08-12-at-11.47.52-AM-1024x495.png 1024w, https:\/\/freebeacon.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/Screen-Shot-2021-08-12-at-11.47.52-AM-768x371.png 768w, https:\/\/freebeacon.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/Screen-Shot-2021-08-12-at-11.47.52-AM-1536x743.png 1536w, https:\/\/freebeacon.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/Screen-Shot-2021-08-12-at-11.47.52-AM-2048x990.png 2048w, https:\/\/freebeacon.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/Screen-Shot-2021-08-12-at-11.47.52-AM-1400x677.png 1400w\" data-sizes=\"auto\" \/><figcaption class=\"absolute text-white p-4 w-full text-right text-xs bottom-0 bg-black opacity-75\">\n\t\t\t\tIndiana attorney general Todd Rokita (R.) \/ YouTube screenshot\t\t\t<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>\t\t\t<span class=\"text-gray text-xs md:text-lg\"><a href=\"https:\/\/freebeacon.com\/author\/jack-beyrer\/\" title=\"Posts by Jack Beyrer\" class=\"author url fn text-red-700\" rel=\"author\">Jack Beyrer<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/freebeacon.com\/author\/alex-nester\/\" title=\"Posts by Alex Nester\" class=\"author url fn text-red-700\" rel=\"author\">Alex Nester<\/a> \u2022 August 12, 2021 1:10 pm<\/span><\/p><\/div>\n<div readability=\"91.735849056604\">\n<p>Indiana&#8217;s attorney general is cracking down on Valparaiso University for its ties to the Chinese Communist Party.<\/p>\n<p>Attorney General Todd Rokita (R.) on Tuesday launched an investigation into Valparaiso University&#8217;s chapter of the Confucius Institute, a Chinese Communist Party-backed organization that the State Department in 2020 deemed a national security threat. From 2011 to 2019, Valparaiso took more than $1.1 million from the Chinese Communist Party without specifying its uses.<\/p>\n<p>Rokita told the <em>Washington Free Beacon <\/em>he launched the investigation after many of his constituents expressed concern about China&#8217;s influence in Indiana.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;China unleashed a virus on the world, they continue to steal our intellectual property, they are human rights abusers, now they&#8217;re calling us out on the international stage,&#8221; he said. &#8220;It&#8217;s in our state&#8217;s interest to keep China accountable\u2014this is one way to do that.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Schools have shuttered their Confucius Institute chapters in recent years as government officials and concerned faculty warned of Chinese espionage and challenges to academic freedom. Valparaiso&#8217;s Confucius Institute is 1 of 41 Confucius Institute chapters still in operation as of July 2021, <a href=\"https:\/\/freebeacon.com\/campus\/china-backed-confucius-institute-rebrands-to-avoid-scrutiny\/\">down<\/a> from over 100 in 2017.<\/p>\n<p>Valparaiso University did not return the <em>Free Beacon<\/em>\u2018s request for comment. In a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.indystar.com\/story\/news\/politics\/elections\/2021\/08\/11\/rokita-investigates-valparaiso-university-over-chinese-propaganda-fear\/5566188001\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">statement<\/a> to the <em>Indianapolis Star<\/em>, the university said it has been &#8220;transparent and compliant&#8221; when reporting funds from China.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Valparaiso University does not and would not support any kind of endeavor that furthers or promotes communist ideology,&#8221; the school said in a statement affirming its &#8220;Christian mission and purpose and \u2026 strong support of the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution that protects the freedom of speech and religion.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>But the Confucius Institute is not Valparaiso&#8217;s only Chinese connection. The school runs an exchange program with Zhejiang University, a school with ties to the Chinese military. Zhejiang supports three Chinese military research labs, and American authorities have flagged the school for scientific and economic espionage.<\/p>\n<p>According to the website of Valparaiso&#8217;s Confucius Institute, the chapter also works with three Confucius Classrooms\u2014the institute&#8217;s K-12 arm\u2014and six other outreach programs at local schools. The <em>Free Beacon<\/em> reported in July that China is using Confucius Classrooms and exchange programs to exert influence on American education.<\/p>\n<p>Rokita slammed school administrators for their &#8220;negligent and insidious decision&#8221; to let China-backed groups influence Indiana students.<\/p>\n<p>China is not the only country attempting to influence American schools. Under former president Trump, the Education Department investigated several American universities for failing to disclose $6.5 billion of gifts from countries including Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Campus Todd Rokita slams &#8216;negligent&#8217; administrators who let China influence students  Indiana attorney general Todd Rokita (R.) \/ YouTube screenshot  Jack Beyrer and Alex &#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":2315279,"comment_status":"close","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-637248","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/637248","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\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=637248"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/637248\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2315279"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=637248"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=637248"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=637248"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}