House hearing on Chinese influence in schools spurs debate over racism

A House hearing on the threat of Chinese influence in American schools spurred a debate over racism Tuesday after Democrats accused their GOP colleagues of fueling anti-Asian hate with their continued focus on the issue.

Tuesday’s hearing of an Education subcommittee was entitled “Academic Freedom Under Attack: Loosening the CCP’s Grip on America’s Classrooms,” focusing on the influence of Confucius Classrooms, which are part of the China-based network of Confucius Insitute schools meant to spread Chinese culture and language around the world.

Rep. Suzanne Bonamici (D-Oreg.) noted that previous investigations carried out by Congress and think tanks have found no security risks or threats to U.S. children from the classrooms.

“Unfortunately, today’s hearing has been another part of the majority’s extreme MAGA agenda to inject culture wars and partisan politics into our public schools in a way that can fuel anti-Asian American bias and provide a platform for claims that have been found by a comprehensive investigation to be unsubstantiated,” she said.

Rep. Aaron Bean (R- Fla.), the subcommittee chairman, said more than 500 public K-12 schools have allowed China’s communist party “to establish itself in their halls under the guise of Confucius Classrooms.”

Confucius Institutes are funded by the Chinese International Education Foundation, which is an ostensibly nongovernmental organization under China’s Ministry of Education.

Bean argued their presence in the U.S. raised national security risks because several of the classrooms are “strategically located around U.S. military bases,” and allowed China to project soft power in a move “straight out of the Soviet playbook.” He also raised concerns about censored curriculum, claiming teachers in the classrooms could not touch on issues such as Tiananmen Square or Taiwan.

He said the committee was not opposed to teaching students about Chinese language, history, and culture but wanted to defend against Chinese government suppression.

Rep. Lisa McClain (R-Mich.) said Democrats were being blind to the obvious risks.

“I mean, wake up people,” she said. “China is not our friend. Look around. They are coming after us. Educationally, militarily, academically, I mean, turn the news on. Unless you live under a rock, this is the reality in which we live. And I will not apologize to protect our American children, period, end of conversation, because that’s what the voters in my district elected me to do.”

Gisela Perez Kusakawa, executive director of the Asian American Scholar Forum (AASF), was among the witnesses at the hearing and echoed the Democratic skepticism about the threats.

“Decades after the systemic incarceration of Japanese Americans, we find ourselves repeating history as Asian Americans are treated as ‘perpetual foreigners’ and economic or national security threats,” Kusakawa said. “It has become a harmful pattern that when the United States has tensions with an Asian country, Asian Americans and immigrants face the backlash at home and become collateral damage.”

Ryan Walters, the superintendent of public instruction for the Oklahoma State Department of Education, disagreed.

“The acceptance of the CCP into our K-12 education system is a small part of a worrying trend in the education policies of the Far Left,” Walters said.

“These policies undermine the Constitution and the American way of life, and I cannot stress enough how urgent it is that we take action to ensure our education system protects the Constitution and protects American values.”

Oklahoma’s state school board requires school districts to report foreign and non-profit money they accept. This will allow the state to “conduct a more thorough investigation into foreign influence in our schools and provide more transparency to the Oklahoman taxpayer,” he said.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.