Analysis On The Reasons For US Government’s Restriction To The Development Of Confucius Institute In America

By the beginning of2013, America had set up83Confucius Institutes. When theInstitutes first appeared in America, the voice of disagreement, along with thedevelopment of the Institute appeared too. Though China considers such program asa culture exchange program, the government of the United States never treatsConfucius Institute as the “harmonious” Institute like others such as Goethe Institute.Especially, the action taken by the US government on May17,2012can be seen as ameasure to restrict the Confucius Institutes in America.Most studies on the Confucius Institutes mainly focus on China’s rising softpower through Confucius Institute and the influences of culture transmission.Though，some scholars have mentioned the harmful influences of wide-spreadConfucius Institute to US. However, seldom concludes systematically on the factorswhy America always makes difficulty with this Chinese Institute from theperspective of US government. This thesis argues that the US government restrictsConfucius Institutes in fear of its political and cultural propaganda by Chinesegovernment.