U.S. Schools are Waking Up to the China Threat

[Anonymous]

But, the Democrats and Justine say Putin's Russia is the big existential threat.



https://www.omaha.com/opinion/josh-rogin-u-s-schools-are-waking-up-to-the/article_e31c9c07-a491-596f-93d9-575285940893.html">https://www.omaha.com/opinion/josh-rogi ... 40893.html">https://www.omaha.com/opinion/josh-rogin-u-s-schools-are-waking-up-to-the/article_e31c9c07-a491-596f-93d9-575285940893.html

America's universities have been slow in coming to terms with the problems posed by Chinese influence. They are now finally beginning to work with the national security community to respond to China's attempts to infiltrate the United States' higher-education system and abuse those relationships to advance Beijing's strategic agenda. But that pushback is just beginning.



On Wednesday, two major universities independently took steps to disentangle their cooperation with Chinese entities. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology announced it would end all collaboration with Chinese tech giants Huawei and ZTE. Both firms stand accused by the U.S. government of sanctions-busting, and the U.S. intelligence community believes both are susceptible to Chinese government influence.



Indiana University on Wednesday decided to immediately close the Confucius Institute at its Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis campus. "This decision ensures ongoing operations of some programs within IU impacted by federal changes surrounding Chinese language programs," university spokesperson Chuck Carney told me.



The Confucius Institutes are Chinese government-sponsored language and culture schools embedded inside U.S. educational institutions. They are wholly controlled by China's education ministry and are part of the Chinese Communist Party's "United Front" foreign influence operations. There are about 90 of the institutes on U.S. campuses. (Editor's note: The University of Nebraska-Lincoln is one of those institutes.)



Indiana University hosts several Pentagon-funded language programs and is responding to legislation Congress recently passed that is meant to ensure that U.S. government language programs aren't being mixed with Chinese government ones. The university is now one of about a dozen U.S. educational institutions to cut ties with their Confucius Institutes.



When national security professionals first sounded the alarm about Chinese partnerships in U.S. universities last year, the academic sector was skeptical and resistant. Now, through a mixture of external pressure and internal debate, more U.S. colleges and universities are taking a sober look at the Chinese government's presence on their campuses — and are deciding to curtail it.



"Indiana University and MIT are leading the way as examples for other colleges to follow in untangling themselves from dangerous Chinese influences like Confucius Institutes and Huawei," said Rep. Jim Banks, R-Ind. "Undoubtedly more universities will follow suit as they better understand the threats."



In February 2018, FBI Director Christopher Wray publicly accused the academic sector of naivete about the counterintelligence vulnerability posed by Confucius Institutes. Last June, Banks and Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., led 26 lawmakers in calling on the Education Department to examine Huawei research partnerships on more than 50 U.S. campuses.



The issue of Chinese influence in U.S. academia is complex. Not all Confucius Institutes operate the same. Not all research partnerships carry security risks. Chinese student groups on campus are often connected to the Chinese government, but instances of their direct interference in academic freedom are few and far between.



That is why policymakers and academic leaders are coalescing around a strategy that calls for Chinese-government linked programs on U.S. campuses to demonstrate more transparency, accountability and reciprocity. A February report from the Senate's Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations revealed huge deficiencies in all three of these areas.



The investigation found that nearly 70 percent of universities with Confucius Institutes were failing to properly report their Chinese government funding to the Education Department as required by law. The State Department doesn't even track how many visas have gone to Confucius Institute teachers. Last year alone, the State Department revoked 32 research visas for Confucius Institute instructors because they were teaching K-12 classes rather than actually doing research (one Confucius Institute was caught coaching instructors to lie about it).



Meanwhile, investigators found that the Chinese government is blocking the corresponding but much smaller State Department program to open "American Cultural Centers" at Chinese universities.



"Our investigation found that schools in the United States — from kindergarten to college — have provided a level of access to the Chinese government that the Chinese government refuses to provide to the United States," Subcommittee Chairman Rob Portman, R-Ohio, said at a recent hearing.



All countries attempt to spread soft power, and many countries conduct espionage inside the United States. What makes the China case special is the comprehensive manner in which Beijing uses various arms of influence to infiltrate U.S. institutions and gradually bend them toward its political and strategic aims.



"Confucius Institutes exist as one part of China's broader, long-term strategy," the report states. "Through Confucius Institutes, the Chinese government is attempting to change the impression in the United States and around the world that China is an economic and security threat."



The Chinese government influence campaign inside the United States is difficult to understand and even more difficult to talk about — but that's by design. It will take all sectors of the U.S. government and society working together to further comprehend Beijing's strategy and then respond smartly to protect our society.

[Anonymous]

Indiana University and MIT are right to do what they did.

[Anonymous]

The investigation found that nearly 70 percent of universities with Confucius Institutes were failing to properly report their Chinese government funding to the Education Department as required by law. The State Department doesn't even track how many visas have gone to Confucius Institute teachers. Last year alone, the State Department revoked 32 research visas for Confucius Institute instructors because they were teaching K-12 classes rather than actually doing research (one Confucius Institute was caught coaching instructors to lie about it).

Canada needs to be on guard too, but we are not.

[Bricktop]

Ditto Australia.

[Anonymous]

Ditto Australia.

Your economy is dependent on the Chinese market. Australia is a vassal state.

[Bricktop]

Pretty much.

[Anonymous]

Pretty much.

That is scary.

[Anonymous]

China's threats of 'suffering' can't go unanswered by us



The main news leak that made its way to the Canadian people in advance of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's meeting with U.S. Vice-President Mike Pence was a rather silly one.



It was reported that Trudeau was planning to lecture Pence about the changing abortion laws in certain American states. It's silly because Pence isn't a state-level politician and because it was obvious this was more about using the issue to attack Conservative Leader Andrew Scheer.



Thankfully, there was at least some productive work done at this meeting. Pence agreed to join Trudeau in calling for the release of Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor, the two Canadians arrested under bogus circumstances by China.



U.S. President Donald Trump is currently standing up to China's long-term strategy to become the dominant global superpower on multiple fronts. Running the gamut from trade practices to human rights, there is a lot about how the Communist regime in Beijing functions that deserves our criticism.



It's important that Western countries not let Beijing one-up them in any respect. That includes not letting them walk all over us.



Yet, they've been doing that to Canada and our politicians for several months now. The fact that China's Ambassador Lu Shaye was never publicly chastised for accusing Canadians of engaging in "white supremacy" in their calls for the detainees to be released was problematic enough.



Now, they have moved on to directly threatening us.



Here's what China's foreign ministry spokesmen Geng Shuang said on Friday in response to Pence and Trudeau's remarks on the detainees: "We hope that the Canadian side can have a clear understanding of the consequences of endangering itself for the gains of the U.S. and take immediate actions to correct its mistakes so as to spare itself the suffering from growing damage."



Excuse us? Spare us suffering? That language is unacceptable.



Canada must not tolerate these threats and insults. We have a number of responses at our disposal — ranging from telling them off to announcing that we're banning Huawei or pulling our funding out of their investment bank.



If this is how Beijing is going to behave before we have closer ties with them, just think how aggressive they'll become after.

https://torontosun.com/opinion/editorials/editorial-chinas-threats-of-suffering-cant-go-unanswered-by-us">https://torontosun.com/opinion/editoria ... ered-by-us">https://torontosun.com/opinion/editorials/editorial-chinas-threats-of-suffering-cant-go-unanswered-by-us

[Bricktop]

You haven't banned Huawei yet?

[Vancouver]

You haven't banned Huawei yet?

Not in Canada. All major wireless providers are still selling Huawei phones. I'm still using mine.

[Bricktop]

Since our government blocked them selling their 5G infrastructure, their handsets sit gathering dust on shelves.



They have to be hurting now.

[Anonymous]

Since our government blocked them selling their 5G infrastructure, their handsets sit gathering dust on shelves.



They have to be hurting now.

I don't understand why China wants the CFO of Huawei back home so much..



What does she know?



Are they worried she will make a deal with the Americans, she tells what she knows in exchange for asylum?

[Anonymous]

China is right, Trudeau is a little potato(head).



By Anthony Furey of Sun News Media



CANADA 'TOO NAIVE'

China just laughed in our face. What now?





The Chinese government has now delivered what the kids today would call a "sick burn" against Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland.



The words uttered Wednesday by China's foreign ministry spokesman Geng Shuang come after Trudeau and Freeland have insisted that U.S. President Donald Trump has backed up Canada over the issue of the two detained Canadians and also that they've rallied other countries to their side in the ongoing spat with Beijing and have people in their corner.



Not so fast, says China.



"We hope that the Canadian side will not be too naive," said Geng Shuang. "First, Canada shouldn't naively think that gathering so-called allies to put pressure on



China will work. Second, the Canadian side should not naively believe that its so-called allies can really make concrete efforts for Canada's interests. What they are doing at most is lip service, because after all it is a matter between China and Canada."



This is them laughing in our faces — telling us that we don't have as many friends as we think and that even when our "so-called allies" do step forward to lobby our cause, they're only doing it half-heartedly.



You can even picture Trump getting to the end of a bilateral meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping and saying, after he's already stood up to leave, something like: "Oh right, I almost forgot. So Justin from Canada wanted me to bring this up ... "



There's something more worrisome about that statement though than just the basic fact that China is now at the point in these escalating tensions where it feels confident laughing at us. It's the way it dismisses this whole notion of gathering allies together to press for an outcome. By doing this, it's laughing at our whole way of viewing global affairs.



Freeland speaks a lot about the "rulesbased international order" — this is the idea that international standards are governed by Western norms of democracy, freedom of speech, judicial independence and so on.



China doesn't care for these things. Not because they're ignorant of them. And not because we haven't done enough in inviting them to join us in them. But because Xi knows what he stands for and where he wants to take his country — and the rest of the world. And guess what?Back in 2016 the Chinese gave Trudeau the nickname Little Potato. He took it as a fond label back then. Maybe it was. But now it looks like China, the world's largest consumer of potatoes, is looking to boil and mash Canada's PM.

[Anonymous]

Prime Minister Trudeau's government is in over it's head dealing with China..



It's like watching a sheep negotiating with a pack of wolves.

[Anonymous]

By Anthony Furey of Sun News Media



Canada's new China committee exactly what's needed



It's time to revise the old saying about how all roads lead to Rome. Because if you take a survey of all the big news stories out there, you'll see that there's another country that's become the common thread in so much of what Canada's dealing with right now, and that country is China.



Two of Canada's top new stories on Wednesday involved China. The first one is the development of the Wuhan coronavirus and whether or not Canada's public health protocols are well-equipped to deal with this challenge. It at first seems alarmist to be so concerned about an illness that's primarily focused in the Hubei province of China.



But public health experts in Canada — and Toronto in particular — remember how the SARS virus that killed 44 Canadians first began in China's Guangdong province. They also remember how China downplayed the disease when it first broke and was slow in reporting cases to the World Health Organization.



China has only become more centralized and duplicitous since the rise of Xi Jinping in 2012 so there's no reason to assume similar problems won't happen now. Caution must prevail, the experts advise us.



Then there is the beginning of Huawei CFO Meng Wanzhou's court proceedings to determine whether or not she'll be extradited to the United States to faces charges there in this ongoing saga that has seen Beijing increasingly turn the screws against Canada.



Th i s lat e st round descended into a farce as it was revealed that protesters standing in front of the courthouse holding "Free Ms. Meng" signs were in fact young actors who were told by unknown sources that they'd be paid $150 for two hours of extra work in a movie.



And that's not all. The big political news of the day was that former Quebec Premier Jean Charest announced he wouldn't be running for federal Conservative leader. There would have been several things that dogged a Charest candidacy but one that particularly upset the grassroots were reports that he'd done work for Huawei, advising them on 5G access and the Meng case.



All roads indeed. China's shadow looms over so much in Canadian society — from public health to the rule of law to domestic politics, as these recent stories highlight, to real estate, national security, espionage and more, as the past couple of years have made clear.



Yet you wouldn't know it from the way the Liberal government talks about China. They discuss these issues in isolation, on a case by case basis. But they won't discuss China as one big theme — as a rising global superpower requiring a detailed strategic response from Canada if we're to avoid continually getting the short end of the stick in our dealings with this authoritarian regime.



Thankfully, Parliamentarians led by a motion from Conservative MP



Erin O'Toole have forced the issue and this overdue conversation is fina l ly getting underway with the creation of a special House of Commons committee looking into the Canada-China relationship.



While the Liberals tried to block the creation of the committee, they were reminded of their weakened hand under minority governance when the NDP and Bloc joined with the Conservatives to see the motion pass. The committee held its first meeting on Monday, where they agreed to call Dominic Barton, our Ambassador to China, as one of their first witnesses.



This committee shouldn't be treated as a mere partisan exercise, an attempt to shame the Liberals for their screw- ups on this file. It's much bigger than that.



In many respects, getting our relationship right with China — a country that wants our natural resources, that wants to buy up our sensitive companies, that wants to bring us even more under its wing — is an existential issue for Canada. (To further understand just how dire the situation is pick up a copy of Canadian foreign correspondent Jonathan Manthorpe's important new book Claws of The Panda.)



In 1947, American diplomat George F. Kennan wrote a famous document known as The Long Telegram based on his time stationed in the USSR that, for the first time, really outlined who the Soviets were, what they wanted, how they sought to accomplish their goals and what all of this meant for the United States. This was one of the early seeds planted by the U.S. during the Cold War, and there would have been no victory without such a clear-headed reckoning to pave the way.



The new Cold War with China is different in many respects from the one with the Soviets. What remains the same though is the need to sit down and talk it out, addressing all aspects.



The Liberal government is sheepish about this but it appears that, thankfully, the committee is not. Canadians should pay close attention to the committee hearings and offer encouragement to the Conservative, Bloc and NDP members that sit on it as they do this important work.



China's shadow looms over so much in Canadian society