Replace Confucius Institutes With ‘Censorship-Free Alternatives,’ GOP Lawmakers Urge

Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) speaks before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Capitol Hill in Washington, on Oct. 13, 2020. Samuel Corum/POOL/AFP via Getty Images

Republican lawmakers this week urged the Department of Education to look to Taiwan to provide “censorship-free alternatives” for teaching Mandarin and Chinese culture on U.S. campuses, in place of Chinese Communist Party (CCP)-funded Confucius Institutes (CI).

In a letter (pdf) to Education Secretary Miguel Cardona, Rep. Michelle Steel (R-Calif.) and Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) led a group of more than 20 lawmakers in calling on the department to pay attention to concerns regarding the presence of CIs at American institutions of higher education (IHE).