⁍ U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said on Tuesday he was hopeful that Chinese Confucius Institute cultural centers would all be shut down by the end of the year.

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⁍ Pompeo accused the Chinese-government funded institutes of working to recruit ‘spies and collaborators’ at U.S. colleges.

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⁍ Last month, Pompeo labeled the center that manages the Confucius Institutes in the United States ‘an entity advancing Beijing’s global propaganda and malign influence

– “I’m hopeful we will get them all closed out before the end of this year,” Secretary of State Mike Pompeo told Lou Dobbs on Fox Business Network on Tuesday, referring to the Chinese government-funded Confucius Institutes on US college campuses. Last month, Pompeo called the institutes “an entity advancing Beijing’s global propaganda and malign influence” and required them to register as a foreign mission, Reuters reports. “I think everyone’s coming to see the risk associated with them,” Pompeo said. “I think these institutions can see that, and I’m hopeful we will get them all closed out before the end of this year.”