Beijing begs Biden to remove 'stumbling blocks' from Trump admin. So far, it's working.

Speaking to the U.S. National Committee on U.S.-China Relations, top Chinese foreign relations official Yang Jiechi told the Biden administration that Trump-era policies designed to minimize the foreign influence on American classrooms are “stumbling blocks” to a strong bilateral relationship. 

He remarked, “I hope the new administration will remove the stumbling blocks to people-to-people exchanges, like harassing Chinese students, restricting Chinese media outlets, shutting down Confucius Institutes, and suppressing Chinese companies.”

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Chinese officials have previously accused the U.S. of unfairly targeting Chinese researchers and students, particularly when Chinese nationals are caught illegally hiding their connections to the Chinese government in order to gain access to university resources, including research.

Yang criticized the Trump administration and urged a change to more China-friendly policies. He said, “For the past few years, the Trump administration adopted misguided policies against China, plunging the relationship into its most difficult period since the establishment of diplomatic ties.”

Dozens of universities closed down their Confucius Institutes during the Trump administration, with many of them citing security concerns raised by Republican officials as the reason for the closure.

[RELATED: Biden quietly nixes Trump-era rule combating Chinese Communist-funded ‘propaganda’ centers]

The Biden administration quietly revoked a rule proposed during the Trump administration that would require universities to disclose their contracts with the Confucius Institutes’ parent organization, a propaganda wing of the Chinese government.

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