Ever since Confucius Institutes began to open across the United States, they have been dogged by claims that these offices sponsored by the Chinese government are giving students a narrow view of Chinese culture and history, especially a view that holds to official Chinese positions on contentious geopolitical issues.
From my own personal experiences learning Mandarin at the University of Utah and even working as an office assistant at the Confucius Institute, such claims about our state’s Confucius Institutes would be unfounded. In my second-year Chinese class at the University of Utah, our textbook was called “Taiwan Today.” Talking about Taiwan, a supposedly sensitive topic, was almost daily for our class.
When I went to work in the Confucius Institute at the University of Utah, our office manager was Taiwanese. We also participated in Lunar New Year events in cooperation with a local Taiwanese association.
In 2016, the Dalai Lama lectured to a packed audience at the University of Utah with no great incident.
Rep. Candice Perucci, who is now pushing HJR8 to encourage Utah universities to shut down their Confucius Institutes, makes an unfair caricature of the CI as a communist menace that suppresses access to education about China on Utah campuses. To the contrary, closing Utah’s Confucius Institutes would only deprive students of opportunities to learn about Chinese languages, history, and culture.
Confucius Institutes in Utah do not only operate in universities, they also provide professional training and support to the largest Chinese Dual Language Immersion program in the country. Over 10,000 K-12 students in Utah are becoming the next generation to build bridges of understanding between China and the U.S., instead of perpetuating senseless fear.
I encourage my fellow Utahns to email your local representative today and ask them to vote against HJR8.
Jonah Katz, Taipei, Taiwan
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