Key points in this article:

• A Chinese Communist Party branch was setup at the University of California
• While the branch was dissolved there are still many more organizations around the world under the control of China’s Communist Party
• We must counter Beijing government propaganda

 
The Communist Party of China is intensifying its propaganda strategy.

Chinese scholars, “six party members and one probationary member” founded a Chinese Communist Party branch at the University of California, South China Morning Post reported on Monday. One of these scholars was Mu Xingsen a professor at Dalian University of Technology in China. According to the article, a report stated that, “the branch was set up on November 4 to equip members with the party’s latest theories, affirm their communist beliefs and help them guard against the ‘corrosion’ of Western ideas”.

In their first meeting on 4 November, the branch members studied the “new thoughts and spirits” that were discussed at the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China held in October. However, they soon learned that the branch did not comply with U.S. laws, so they disbanded it immediately.

Confucius Institute In Over 1500 Locations In 139 Countries

While the official party branch was dissolved, the Beijing government still has many propaganda plans up their sleeve, and some already on the move. One of these is the global dissemination of the Confucius Institute, a program for education in Chinese languages and culture instigated by the Beijing government.

By 2016, the Confucius Institute (including divisions for elementary children and secondary students) had spread to over 1500 locations in 139 countries. Tie-up universities include Japan’s Waseda University, Australia’s University of Sydney, and London School of Economics in the U.K.

Since the Beijing government regulates the Confucius Institute, all things that are taboo to the Communist Party – the Tiananmen Square Massacre, Falun Gong, and human rights issues in Tibet – are completely absent from its courses. The Institute went as far as to stop the Dalai Lama from giving a lecture on his visit to an American university, due to his connection with the Central Tibetan Administration.

These and other similar problems around the world have resulted in sharp criticisms of the Confucius Institute for infringing academic freedom and integrity.

In 2014, the Association of American Universities issued a statement urging American institutions to end their collaboration with the Confucius Institute. “Confucius Institutes function as an arm of the Chinese state and are allowed to ignore academic freedom,” reads a line from the statement. In 2016, a Canadian film company produced a documentary exposé film of the Confucius Institute, “In the name of Confucius”, which screened in over 6 countries worldwide.

The Confucius Institute’s façade of ‘cultural exchange’ and ‘education’ has begun to crumble.

China Wants To Export Chinese Values

The Communist Party branch that was setup at the University of California, Davis, was indeed dissolved. At the party’s 19th National Congress, however, chairman of China Xi Jinping declared a fight against Western ideology of liberty with “a new Chinese socialism”.

They will continue to do everything they can to try to justify to the world the legitimacy of communism and the Communist Party of China.

This party branch problem was resolved because branches can be seen; but if they establish an international network of ‘people’ under the direct control of the government, resolving that will not be so simple.

Each person in each country must not be blinded by big names, wealth and potential profit. We cannot think of this UC Davis case as having nothing to do with us: we have to treat it as a warning and an opportunity for creating an anti-spy system so we can protect the people in our country.