The University of Rhode Island (URI) announced Monday that it was ending its partnership with its Chinese-funded Confucius Institute, a network of organizations dedicated to promoting the study of Chinese language and culture overseas.

A statement released by the university stated that the closure had come on the back of a threat by the U.S. government to cut funding to the institution, a tool which was incorporated into the American law in August.

The closure of the Rhode Island institute is the latest in a string of closures across the United States; with North Carolina State University and the University of Michigan also announcing similar dissolutions.

The politics that is at play is obvious. With the U.S. government openly attempting to masquerade Confucius Institute as a subvert threat, it is clear yet again the phenomenon is the latest in the ever-growing vilification of everything related to China in the country. It is to say the least, not inappropriate to use the term McCarthyism to describe it.

How did Confucius Institute come to be depicted as threatening? U.S. authorities argue that such institutes are a threat to American values and freedom of speech. How exactly? Such a claim is of course not supported with serious evidence. The institutes teach language and culture. They do not engage in political subversion, spread ideology or attempt to influence local politics.

As evidence, despite being forced into the closure, the University of Rhode Island rejected the government's allegations. The university's spokesperson Linda Acciardo noted that: "The Confucius Institute has been managed by the University, with all Chinese language instructors hired by URI faculty, who control the curriculum, program, and all academic matters… and that there was no use of propaganda infiltrating the program, nor any interference in URI's management of the Institute."

The complete lack of evidence, however, has not stopped the Congress from moving to purposefully eradicate such institutes. The national defense authorization act of 2018 authorized the cutting of federal assistance for Chinese programs in universities hosting the institutes.

Whilst it should be noted that students are not being deprived of Chinese language instruction should they wish, the political purposes behind such a law were painstakingly obvious.

There is a wider irony behind such actions. The U.S. government is raising hysteria about political influence over universities, whilst simultaneously utilizing political influence in the form of funding to coerce such institutions into making decisions that comply with their foreign policy.

It also goes hand in hand with the growing vilification of Chinese students in the U.S. as being potential spies and a concern that universities are “too reliant” on them financially. Both odious and dangerous claims to make.

In essence, it is hard to depict this kind of behavior as anything else but a form of McCarthyism and mass hysteria which promotes an unfounded hatred of China, driven by obvious political opportunism.

Whilst there are undoubtedly disagreements and differences between China and the United States, they cannot be resolved with a resort to naked demonization even to the point of accusing language institutes of political subversion. As cooperation with China in education continues to be targeted, it is both countries who will lose out in the long run.