The Department of War has issued an order to 30 colleges and universities to submit research security reports to the department by Aug. 31 or risk losing federal funding.
“The Department of War has zero tolerance for academic partnerships that compromise our national security,” Under Secretary of War for Research and Engineering Emil Michael said in a press release. “Institutions that receive funding from American taxpayers must uphold the highest standards of research security, and these mandated audits will ensure accountability across the board.”
According to the release, “These notifications address active institutional ties and collaborations with foreign entities identified under Section 1286 of the FY19 NDAA, as well as organizations associated with rebranded Confucius Institutes.”
Fox News reported 30 schools involved, including two NC schools: University of North Carolina Chapel Hill and Duke University.
Starting in 2020, I’ve written several times about Confucius Institutes and universities rebranding their ties to them for North State Journal.
Confucius Institutes (CI) began operating in the U.S. between 2004 and 2005, offering Chinese language courses — but quickly were found to be whitewashing the country’s history and were seen by the U.S. Government as a means to infiltrate colleges and recruit agents while undermining the U.S.
CI’s are funded and run by the Hanban, an arm of the Chinese Communist Party. In July 2022, the Hanban changed its name to the “Ministry of Education Center for Language Exchange and Cooperation (CLEC), which in turn created sub-organizations including the International Education Foundation (CIEF) to manage CI funding and rebranding efforts.
The Department of War’s order for these reports follows Defending Education’s release of “Little Red Classrooms: Young Envoys Scholarship Program” on Aug. 13.
The Defending Education’s report is a follow up to it’s previous investigation into CI’s and their K-12 counterparts known as Confucius Classrooms. This new report notes CI’s and the K-12 iterations are mostly defunct, but a new entity has popped up to replace them called the Young Envoys Scholarship (YES) program.
According to Defending Education, YES is “run by the China Education Association for International Exchange (CEAIE),” which claims operates study abroad opportunities “to deepen and expand cross-cultural understanding among countries.”
Additionally, on CEAIE website in Chinese, Defending Education notes “that it is guided by “Marxism-Leninism” and Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism and ‘always adhere to the leadership of the Party and integrate the Party’s work into the entire process of the association’s operation and development’.”
Defending Education says they have documented participation in YES by 83 universities and 26 K-12 schools.
The same two universities named by the Department of War are also included in Defending Education’s list of participating schools:
Duke University: Young Envoys Scholarship – August 2024
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill: Young Envoys Scholarship – July/ August 2025
UPDATES
Per The Daily Tarheel, UNC Chapel Hill Chancellor Lee Roberts has terminated its partnership with Fudan University.