Biden Administration Draws Criticism for Decision to Scrap Trump’s Policy on Confucius Institutes

Then-Chinese vice chair Xi Jinping unveils a plaque at the opening of Australia's first Chinese Medicine Confucius Institute at the RMIT University in Melbourne on June 20, 2010. WILLIAM WEST/AFP via Getty Images

The Biden administration has quietly scrapped a proposal by the Trump administration to safeguard U.S. academic freedom from the threat of Beijing-funded Confucius Institutes (CI).

The proposed rule, named “Establishing Requirement for Student and Exchange Visitor Program Certified Schools to Disclose Agreements with Confucius Institutes and Classrooms,” was submitted by the Trump administration to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) on Dec. 31, 2020.