With the strong support and vote of Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ), Co-Chair of the Congressional-Executive Commission on China (CECC), the U.S. House of Representatives passed the PROTECT Our Kids Act (HR 1069), legislation to “prohibit the availability of Federal education funds for elementary and secondary schools that receive direct or indirect support from the Government of the People’s Republic of China” (PRC).

                “The PRC’s goal in influencing American students is not an altruistic one; they are not seeking to merely ‘enlighten’ American children and expand their worldviews,” said Smith. “The purpose of these so-called ‘Confucius Classrooms’ is to undermine and subvert American business, national security, and civic interests by manipulating malleable students into perceiving China favorably on the global stage.

                “For many years, I have been sounding the alarm on the PRC’s pervasive and insidious influence on American students in our colleges and universities,” continued Smith, the author of legislation to require Confucius Institutes, think tanks, academic programs, or nongovernmental organizations funded by the PRC to register under section 2 of the Foreign Agents Registration Act of 1938 (22 U.S.C. 612).

                “Students in our elementary and secondary schools are especially vulnerable to the PRC’s fabrications—we must immediately end these pernicious programs.

                “The PROTECT Our Kids Act is a vital tool for helping to stop the spread of the PRC’s lies about communism and the operations of the Chinese government, as well as promote the importance of protecting national security interests in America’s schools,” noted the China policy expert. “This legislation helps ensure that American students can no longer be misled and misinformed by foreign governments, such as the PRC, about the empty promises of communism.

                “China, led by the dictator thug General Secretary Xi Jinping, has been a standalone leader in perpetrating mass human rights abuses; a foreign government, especially of this nature, should have absolutely zero say in the education of our students.

                “I strongly urge my colleagues in the Senate to immediately take up this critical legislation for a vote. The United States should be educating our future leaders on the cruel truth of communist governments—not allowing their impressionable minds to be shaped by a foreign government’s lies,” concluded Smith.

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