Two of the largest U.S. college campus political organizations are calling for the closure of all Confucius Institutes in the United States, saying the Beijing-funded outposts are part of the Chinese Communist Party’s attempt to control discourse on China at American universities.The open letter states that China’s actions at U.S. colleges and universities “pose an existential threat to academic freedom as we know it.”  The Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., speaks during an interview with the Associated Press on April 26, 2018, in his office on Capitol Hill in Washington.In 2018, Undergraduate student Moe Lewis, left, shows her watercolor painting of peony leaves at a traditional Chinese painting class at the Confucius Institute at George Mason University in Fairfax, Va., on May 2, 2018.The open letter condemns xenophobia and states, “The Chinese Communist Party’s actions pose an immense threat to academic freedom and to human dignity. It is imperative that we distinguish this totalitarian regime from the Chinese people, whom we must steadfastly defend from abhorrent acts of xenophobia, racism, and hatred. We must act to give voice to the long-oppressed, be they Chinese, Hong Konger, Mongolian, Taiwanese, Tibetan or Uyghur. We must condemn in the most unequivocal terms any and all anti-Asian sentiment wherever and whenever it arises.”Several of the student leaders told VOA that many American students do not understand the impact of CIs and the CCP on their campuses. They said the CCP’s practices on Hong Kong, and Xinjiang and the COVID-19 outbreak, have also made the U.S. students less likely to have any involvement with the CCP.John Metz, national council chair of the College Democrats of America, said, “I do think this reflects a growing consensus within the youth wings of both parties, and I think the events of the last few days in Hong Kong in particular, have really been moving the needle.” On Thursday, China’s National People’s Congress approved  imposing a national security law on Hong Kong, which many resident fear will mean a sweeping erosion of the city’s rule of law, rights and freedoms.    The authors of the open letter, as well as student leaders from the Democratic and Republican parties said it was only a first step, and that they would continue to push grassroots campaigns on campus, urge schools to take concrete action to implement the open letter’s appeal, and mobilize more students to contact their respective members of Congress to push for policies at the legislative level.As of May 15, 2020, there were 81 CIs in the US, according to the National Association of Scholars, and 480 CIs operating worldwide, according to the CI at the University of California Los Angeles.Adrianna Zhang contributed to this report
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