The United States Department of Defense has designated Confucius Institutes, Chinese-funded cultural centres on university campuses, as a threat to US national security.
US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced the move on Friday in a video posted on social media, saying the Pentagon added the organisations to its list of institutions that threaten national security.
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Washington has long accused the centres of serving as Chinese propaganda tools and has taken steps to crack down on them.
Hegseth said Confucius Institutes had operated in disguise after being restricted by Congress, calling them âÂÂsleeper organisationsâÂÂ.
âÂÂIt turns out that 80 new propaganda cells across 30 universities had popped up using different names and different charters, but with the same mission: to steal intellectual property and to infiltrate the minds of American students,â he said.
In the video, Hegseth said that Chinese government-backed cultural programmes had infiltrated universities and reappeared in new guises despite congressional restrictions.
Over the past two months, the Pentagon has âÂÂsystematically dismantled every single one of these organisationsâÂÂ, he said.
The Chinese embassy in Washington did not respond to Reutersâ request for comment.