News

Miami, FL — Today, U.S. Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL), applauded the Department of Defense’s (DOD) decision to deny federal grants to American universities that have Chinese government-run Confucius Institutes operating on their campuses. Rubio is a member of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence.
 
“The Pentagon is absolutely right to deny federal funding to American universities that have agreements with Chinese state-run Confucius Institutes attempting to infiltrate college campuses, and every other federal agency should follow suit,” Rubio said. “The Communist Chinese government’s attempts to influence academic institutions and thwart critical analysis of China’s past and present policies is just one part of their aggressive campaign to stifle free speech and censor information both here at home and abroad. American universities that still have agreements with Confucius Institutes should follow the lead of Florida’s academic institutions that have already terminated these agreements.”
 
Rubio has previously warned of the Communist Chinese government’s attempt to infiltrate America’s classrooms, and urged Florida schools to terminate their agreements with Confucius Institutes last year. To date, University of South Florida, University of North Florida, and University of West Florida have all closed their Confucius Institutes.