Legislation targets Beijing spying, Confucius Institutes
Members of Congress are moving ahead with legislation seeking curbs on Chinese government influence operations in the United States.
Lawmakers in the House plan to introduce legislation today that would require Chinese government-funded Confucius Institutes operating on American university campuses to register as foreign agents.
The bill, called the “Countering the Chinese Government and Communist Party’s Political Influence Operations Act of 2018” also would require American intelligence agencies to provide a detailed report on Beijing’s extensive covert and overt influence operations.
The bill is being sponsored by Rep. Chris Smith (R., N. J.) and Rep. Marcy Kaptur (D., Ohio), both members of the House Foreign Affairs Committee. It will be introduced Monday coinciding with the 29th anniversary of the Chinese military’s bloody crackdown on unarmed pro-democracy protesters in Beijing’s Tiananmen Square.
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