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Why is Washington so scared of Confucius?

08:29, May 25, 2012

According to a new US State Department directive last week, Confucius Institutes in the US must obtain American accreditation. The directive also says that some academics at these institutes who are holding J-1 visas will not get their visas extended, which means they will have to leave the US. If the directive comes into force, Confucius Institutes and Schools in the US will face a lot of trouble. The US obviously wants this.

Confucius Institutes have expanded their global presence in recent years. There are now 691 Confucius Institutes and Schools, 69 of which are in the US. Their rapid development can be partly attributed to China's active promotion, but the decisive factor is the great demand for learning Chinese.

After Spanish, which was brought by Latino immigrants, Chinese has become the first foreign language taught in the US. The arrival of Confucius Institutes and Americans' eagerness to learn Chinese are a perfect match. The Confucius Institutes in the US are established in accordance with the requirements of American universities and colleges. The Chinese-teaching volunteers are actually invited by US academies.

US academies will bear the loss if Chinese teachers and volunteers leave the US. What China loses is a chance to promote its culture. Compared with the US' need for Chinese-training talents to better communicate with China, China's demand is not so urgent.

The issue shows that the US' cultural confidence is not as strong as we thought. The promotion of Chinese language and culture by Confucius Institutes makes some Americans uneasy. Only culturally weak countries have such sensitivity.

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（Editor：李昆仑、马茜）

Leave your comment13 comments

Cynthia at 2012-06-1624.7.120.*: I wonder if to be a Confucious Scholar from China requires membership in the CCP. Communist party members coming over to the United States to teach Chinese culture and language would definitely be looked at warily.
workingtaxpayer at 2012-05-2865.101.75.*: All US schools which offer academic degrees are required to be accredited. One of the requirements to receive accreditation is for all teachers and instructors to be qualified and certified for the subjects that they are teaching.Over many years Chinese have emigrated to the US for teaching jobs in non-accredited schools, as a way of bypassing emigration requirements. The legitimization of existing Confusios schools requires that they only employ real teachers. This may mean that some Chinese who are not real teachers may loose their US visa and have to return to China.This is about the quality and reliability of education...not about being Chinese, Mexican, Filippino, or other race.
PD User at 2012-05-27203.97.220.*: This is how the mob and pack wolves mentality worksdue to less civilization. If US feels threaten by China it would spend all its energy to find backing from others forming a pack go against one. They have to feel 100% superior in everything until now that they had made a habit. Without that 100% sure they panic and becomes irrational. Mind you they had done that and were very successful in the past but back then those pioneers were real people compare to now are those merely pot suckers. That is why they fail and they will fail in a big time if they go against China as China had been in a period of extremely poverty and human developments were at best mere existing. China has now improved everyday and US goes the opposite way. US is not only scared of Confucius but wet its pant!
Carl MacIntyre at 2012-05-26140.240.10.*: It"s been a long time since I"ve seen such a one-sided analysis (if you can call it that) of an issue.
Todd at 2012-05-26108.32.194.*: I want someone to come teach Korean (Hangeul/Joseongeul).