Sec. Cardona Unaware of CCP Hold in US Colleges

Miguel Cardona, the United States secretary of education, claimed that he is not familiar with any attempt by the Chinese Communist Party to influence educational institutions.

During a Tuesday hearing before House Appropriations Committee, Cardona responded to Republican Congressman John Moolenaar of Michigan’s several questions on the matter.

“I don’t have any information around specific efforts to try to influence [U.S. education],” Cardona said, later adding that he also had no data on Chinese-funded Confucius Institutes on college campuses.

The responses caused a stark rebuke by Moolenaar on the degree to which the Biden administration is seeking to address China’s growing influence over the U.S.

“The Chinese Communist Party is actively working to influence our education system and children. Yet, Education Secretary Cardona is unaware and unprepared on how to counter CCP influence efforts, whether in the form of Confucius Institutes at colleges or in taking a stand against TikTok, a CCP spyware app,” Moolenaar declared.

“Cardona and the Biden administration need to wake up and take the CCP’s efforts to influence U.S. education seriously,” he added.

The Chinese Ministry of Education Center for Language Exchange and Cooperation has operated Confucius Institutes in U.S. colleges since 2004, when the first was opened at the University of Maryland.

Politico noted last year that a recent Senate investigation found that the Chinese government spent over $150 million on Confucius Institutes in America from 2006 to 2019. At its peak in 2018, there were roughly 100 in the country.

However, recent revelations from the House Oversight Committee’s investigation into foreign business dealings by the Biden family have led to a focus on Chinese espionage in the U.S.

“Over the course of several years, members of the Biden family and their companies received over $1.3 million in payments from accounts related to their associate, Rob Walker,” House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer stated in a press release.

“Most of this money came as a result of a wire from a Chinese energy company and went not only to Hunter and James Biden, but also to Hallie Biden and an unknown ‘Biden,'” the Kentucky Republican continued. “It is unclear what services were provided to obtain this exorbitant amount of money.”