The Chinese Communist Party has extensive influence within Texas, from city partnerships to education initiatives in Dallas, according to a new report.
Public information and internal communications reported by Texas Scorecard in a three–part series published this week show a variety of partnerships between Texan and Chinese leaders, many of which are in Dallas. This includes “twin city” partnerships between Texas and China, Confucius Institutes at universities, and other state projects with groups linked to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).
“Many people are still unaware of the deceptive tactics the Chinese Communist Party employs to achieve their political ends,” Kristen Stanciu, an investigative reporter for Texas Scorecard, told The Dallas Express.
Eight cities in Texas have established “sister city” programs with China. The Dallas City Hall website lists Tianjin, China, as one of its sister cities. A representative from Dallas Mayor Eric Johnson’s office denied the partnership still exists in a statement to Texas Scorecard, claiming the agreement is two decades old and “currently inactive.”
Fort Worth partners with Guiyang, China, under its Sister City Program at a cost to taxpayers of $50,000 a year, with the possibility of additional funds if research goals are met.
Seven Confucius Classroom programs, which are direct education partnerships with the CCP, are active in Texas — including one in Highland Park ISD — according to a Daily Mail report published this year.
Texas Scorecard reported an eighth school district just outside of Dallas, Hurst-Euless-Bedford ISD, received $90,000 in taxpayer money for the program through a STARTALK grant in 2020. Another nearly $70,000 in taxpayer funding has reportedly been spent on the program in the past decade.
The University of Texas at Dallas canceled its Confucius Institute program in 2019 in a move it attributed to a desire for financial independence. But internal communications obtained by Texas Scorecard suggest the program was shut down in order to “continue to receive funding from the Department of Defense to run their Chinese language program” after Congress passed the National Defense Authorization Act, which prohibits federal defense funds from going to universities with Confucius Institutes.
“The Chinese Communist Party and traditional Chinese culture are not the same, but the CCP doesn’t want Americans to know the difference,” Stanciu told The Dallas Express. “As long as they remain convoluted, the CCP can continue to infiltrate the most crucial areas of American life under the guise of cultural expression and international relations.”
Another source of influence by the CCP in Texas, reported by Texas Scorecard, is through the Chinese Students and Scholars Associations (CSSAs). The original association was founded by the CCP in the 1970s “to monitor Chinese students and mobilize them against views that dissent from the CCP’s stance.”
CSSAs operate at universities across Texas, including the University of Texas at Dallas, the University of Texas at Austin, Rice University, Texas State University, Texas A&M, and the University of North Texas, Texas Scorecard reported.
The U.S. State Department monitors CSSAs through the United Front Work Department. Li Fengzhi, a former Chinese Ministry of State Security official, said the CCP uses CSSAs for “information collection” and spreading propaganda.