U.S. Senator Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) is leading a bipartisan effort to push U.S. colleges and universities to support the U.S.-Taiwan Education Initiative as an alternative to China’s Confucius Institutes.
Blackburn along with U.S. Senator Ed Markey (D-MA) introduced a Senate Resolution on Tuesday, to signal that the U.S.-Taiwan Education Initiative is supported on a bipartisan basis as a censorship-free alternative to Confucius Institutes.
The U.S.-Taiwan Education Initiative is aimed at expanding access to Chinese and English language instruction while safeguarding academic and intellectual freedom. Specifically, the initiative highlights and enhances Taiwan’s critical role in providing Chinese instruction to Americans and people worldwide.
According to the lawmakers, the controversial Beijing-funded culture centers on countless U.S. college campuses, known as Confucius Institutes, allowed the Communist Chinese Party to censor and monitor U.S. students.
After the State Department designated these Confucious Institutes as a foreign mission, many of these Confucius Institutes closed, leaving colleges and universities a continued need for Mandarin language instruction.
Mandarin is the second most spoken language in the world, with more than 1 billion speakers, making it critical to the United States’ national security and prosperity.
The lawmakers said that Taiwan, a democratic-ruled island, can help teach American students Mandarin, culture, and history in a censorship and coercion-free environment.
According to Blackburn, the U.S. institutes of higher learning need to be freed from China’s grasp while still teaching students about the language.
“Communist China has had a strong presence at American colleges and universities. We’ve already seen how Beijing has attempted to use its foothold to censor our students and silence activists on American soil. Our institutes of higher learning must be free from China’s grasp while still teaching students about the culture, history, and language, and Taiwan can help fill this critical void. Congress should continue doing all we can to support Taiwan and increase ties between our two nations. I appreciate Senator Markey joining me in this bipartisan effort,” Blackburn said.
According to Markey, advocating for the U.S.-Taiwan Education Initiative will continue fostering a strong relationship between the two nations.
“If we want to continue building a strong relationship with Taiwan, then we need to support foreign language exchange between our two nations. This resolution reaffirms our nation’s commitment to expanding educational opportunities for people at home and abroad to learn English or Mandarin. I thank Senator Blackburn for her work to strengthen our friendship with Taiwan, underscored by the languages that we use to communicate with and learn from one another,” Markey said.
Taiwan’s Ambassador to the United States Hsiao Bi-khim said she welcomes this bipartisan resolution.
“I welcome the bipartisan resolution introduced by Senators Blackburn and Markey to support further education cooperation as part of the U.S.-Taiwan Education Initiative. Taiwan can play a key role in providing American students with an open academic environment for learning Mandarin. We will continue to strengthen our cooperation with the U.S. to achieve the goals laid out by the Initiative,” Bi-Khim said.
The Tennessee Star contacted Blackburn for additional comment but did not receive a reply before press time.
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Hannah Poling is a lead reporter at The Ohio Star, The Star News Network, The Arizona Sun Times, and The Tennessee Star. Follow Hannah on Twitter @HannahPoling1. Email tips to [email protected]
Photo “Marsha Blackburn” by Marsha Blackburn.
