Confucius say: “When it is obvious that the goals cannot be reached, don't adjust the goals; adjust the action steps.”

On October 30, 2023, the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) released a report showing that “nearly all” Chinese Confucius Institutes operating on U.S. college and university campuses had been closed. The purpose of the institutes was allegedly to teach Chinese language and culture, but rumors of spying, indoctrination, and intellectual property theft by Chinese nationals began circulating shortly after the arrival of the institutes in 2004 during the administration of George W. Bush.

The GAO report showed that the number of institutes had dwindled from 100 in 2019 “to fewer than five” in 2023. At their height, the institutes numbered approximately 118. The commonly cited reason for the closings was “the potential loss of federal funding and external pressures,” including limitations on funding set by the Department of Defense in the National Defense Authorization Acts for fiscal years 2019 and 2021, and “pressure from U.S. government, congressional, or state representatives....”

In other words, U.S. educators and politicians were getting wise to the institutes’ real goals. For example, the Chinese “Centre for Language Education and Cooperation,” or Hanban, “controls nearly every aspect of a Confucius Institute’s operation in the United States,” including helping obtain Chinese teachers or advisors from Chinese schools to provide instruction and develop curricula. Numerous reports have shown that instead of teaching Chinese history and culture, many institute teachers have been more inclined to exploit divisive American topics such as social justice and racism.

But Chinese money talks, and funding of U.S. educational institutions by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) ranks at the top of reasons they have welcomed the Confucius Institutes. In 2020, Education Reporter documented warnings by education experts that “the widespread failure to report [this] foreign funding leaves millions of dollars’ worth of Chinese government funding in the dark.”

While the U.S. Department of Education under the first Trump Administration attempted to crack down on institutions that fail to disclose foreign sources of funding such as China, the department admitted in August 2020 that “colleges and universities have hidden at least $600 million from China” since 2010.

Same infiltration, new name

The National Association of Scholars (NAS) reported in June 2023 that many U.S. schools had already replaced their Confucius Institutes with “substantially similar” programs, “or maintained closed relationships with Chinese institutions that had partnered in the Confucius Institute. These rebranding efforts match those of the Chinese government,” they wrote, “which has reorganized Confucius Institutes under a new organization, the Chinese International Education Foundation.”

Fast-forward to December 2025. On December 3, a Washington Free Beacon article published by the Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD) contends that in several instances, American universities have partnered with a Chinese institution known to have close ties to the Chinese military. One such partnership “is between the University of Michigan, a premier U.S. public university, and Shanghai Jiao Tong University,” which “is located on a PLA information engineering base in Shanghai.” The PLA (People’s Liberation Army) is China’s military force, the largest in the world.

Then there are the Chinese Student and Scholar Associations (CSSA), which the FDD says “closely resemble the late Confucius Institutes.” According to the Southern Illinois University website, for example, the CSSA “is the official organization for overseas Chinese students and scholars registered in most colleges, universities, and institutions outside of China.” The CSSAs have likewise been criticized for controlling Chinese students and professors by censoring their speech and for being involved in espionage and the persecution of groups such as Falun Gong.

A definite downside to the ongoing focus on Confucius Institutes in higher education is that those operating in K-12 classrooms have continued unfettered. As with critical race theory (CRT), DEI, and transgender indoctrination that includes the grooming and transitioning of students, Confucius Institute classrooms often hide the curriculum or use another name. As the Free Beacon notes: “K-12 schools, which unlike universities don’t rely on federal grant funding, are under no obligation to publicly report these connections, and the information is frequently only obtained via Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests where possible.”

A 2023 investigative report by the parent-driven organization, Defending Education, found that K-12 Confucius Institute classrooms were operating near 20 major U.S. military bases. The group wrote: “Chinese state media has touted the work done by Confucius Institutes and Confucius Classrooms to further the Chinese Communist Party’s global influence.” This report is filled with eye-opening detail and definitely worth a read by anyone concerned with Chinese “soft power” incursions into American education.

Spring Education Group

Another threat by China to K-12 education is a relatively recent effort to influence private-school students by buying the schools outright. The Free Beacon wrote that “the Hong Kong-based Primavera Capital Group owns the Spring Education Group, a for-profit company buying up private schools across the United States....” A quick check of Spring Education Group’s website shows it operates an array of schools nationwide, including pre-schools through grade 8, with some schools including pre-K through grade 12.

A check of Primavera’s website shows that the company’s founder, Fred Hu, “was invited to participate in the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting 2025 in Davos, Switzerland,” during which he shared insights on the “US-EU-China Triangle” regarding “the prospects of the Chinese economy and the evolving dynamics of US-EU-China relations.” Primavera’s website also shows that its portfolio includes ByteDance, the parent company of TikTok.

According to the Free Beacon, Primavera previously owned the Princeton Review and Tutor.com. In February 2024, Arkansas Senator Tom Cotton wrote a letter urging then-Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin “to sever the Department of Defense’s (DoD) contract with Chinese-owned Primavera Capital Group,” which owned Tutor.com at the time. Cotton’s concern was that the tutoring service the DoD was using for both military members and their children posed risks to national security due to its “having access to American service members’ data and [he] requested information on DoD’s relationship with the company.”

Senator Cotton wrote in part:

• While providing educational services, Tutor.com collects personal data on users, such as location, internet protocol addresses, and contents of the tutoring sessions. As Chinese national security laws require companies to release confidential business and customer data to the Chinese government, we are paying to expose our military and their children’s private information to the Chinese Communist Party.

It should be noted here that Primavera may no longer own Tutor.com, and that the Department of Defense announced at the end of March 2024 that it would continue to use the service.

House passes legislation

On December 4, 2025, the U.S. House of Representatives passed H.R.1069 - the PROTECT Our Kids Act to stop the federal funding of schools that receive funds from China. Sponsored by Rep. Kevin Hern (R-OK), the bill specifically “prohibits such funding for any school that (1) has a partnership in effect with a cultural or language institute funded by the Chinese government, including a Confucius Institute; (2) operates a learning center supported by the Chinese government (commonly referred to as a Confucius Classroom); or (3) receives support from an individual or entity acting on behalf of the Chinese government, including support in the form of teaching materials, personnel, funds, or other resources.”

H.R. 1069 contains a caveat, however. It allows a school to obtain a waiver to keep the funding for such a program if the contract contains a statement demonstrating that it “is for the benefit of the school’s mission and students and will promote the security, stability, and economic vitality of the United States.”

Rep. Tim Walberg (R-MI) told the Washington Examiner: “Authoritarian regimes around the world, like the Chinese Communist Party, are trying to use lucrative financial ties with schools to undermine American values and interests.” Walberg is chairman of the House Committee on Education and the Workforce. He added: “Confucius Classrooms are a prime example of how foreign-funded programs can shape curricula and exert influence in our K-12 classrooms.”

Another bill, H.R. 1005, Combating the Lies of Authoritarians in School Systems (CLASS) Act, also passed in the U.S. House. Introduced by Rep. David Joyce (R-OH), the CLASS Act requires public elementary and secondary schools receiving financial assistance in excess of $10,000 from a foreign source or entering into one or more contracts with an aggregate value “in excess of $10,000 with a foreign source” must make full disclosure within 30 days of obtaining the funds.

The disclosure must include the name and country of origin, the amount of funds received, and any terms or conditions associated with the receipt of the funds. In the event of a contract, the terms and conditions of the contract must be disclosed. The bill has been introduced in the Senate and referred to the “Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions.”

Finally, the House also passed H.R. 1049, the Transparency in Reporting of Adversarial Contributions to Education (TRACE) Act, introduced early this year by Rep. Aaron Bean (R-FL). This bill requires schools to inform parents “of foreign influence in their child’s public school....” It requires disclosure of “any curricular material or professional development material used at the school that was purchased, or otherwise obtained, using funds received from the government of a foreign country or a foreign entity of concern....”

This bill has also been received by the Senate and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions.” Together, these three bills are intended to curb the encroachment of foreign influences in U.S. public schools, particularly by the CCP.

Epic literacy

Last September, Defending Education published an article by The Free Press describing the Epic literacy platform for U.S. public school students. This reading tool “hosts over 40,000 books—and its appeal includes the ability to collect data from young readers in real time, which helps teachers and parents develop specialized reading plans based on each student’s skill level and interests.”

However, the tool’s owner, Epic Kids, was sold last May to the “Chinese tutoring company TAL Education Group in bankruptcy court for $95 million.” Experts worry that the “incredible amount of data” accumulated by the online literacy tool represents a similar national security risk as TikTok.

The Free Press writes that Epic’s reading tool “is used by 94 percent of American elementary schools and reaches the homes of over 75 million kids. According to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, while the TAL Education Group is based in the Cayman Islands, “its core business operations are in China and are potentially vulnerable to Chinese government intrusion.”

The article warns that “Chinese laws are not governed by common law principles,” and that “national security is a sweeping term that can be used with the government’s discretion.” TAL Education Group told the SEC that “there are substantial uncertainties in how China’s laws are interpreted and applied.”

The risks to U.S. national security posed by Chinese-owned platforms are “very real,” as many U.S. officials of both parties agree. But former Rep. Mike Gallagher (R-WI) noted in 2024 that “the primary concern has always been propaganda.” He added: “We know that Xi’s goal is to dominate discourse power and wage ideological warfare against the West.”

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