Pentagon designates China-backed campus cultural centers a threat to US national security

The US Defense Department has officially designated China's Confucius Institutes on American university campuses as a national security threat. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced the designation, describing the Chinese-funded cultural centers as propaganda cells.

According to the Defense Department, these campus centers are intended to steal intellectual property and infiltrate the minds of American students. Washington has long accused the institutes of operating on behalf of Beijing.