Video Blackburn warns China using ‘soft propaganda’ to influence Americans Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) says Beijing is leveraging subtle messaging and influence networks to shape public opinion inside the U.S.
FIRST ON FOX: Dozens of American colleges, high schools, middle schools and elementary schools have taken part in a program launched by Chinese President Xi Jinping and run by an agency dedicated to promoting "Marxism-Leninism," a new report published by the parents' rights group Defending Education found.
At least 83 universities and 26 K-12 schools across 30 states have participated in Beijing’s Young Envoys Scholarship, an exchange program which the Chinese Communist Party says is designed to improve relations with the United States, according to the report. Critics, however, maintain that Chinese exchange programs serve a political function, allowing the CCP to curate manicured experiences to unduly sway American perceptions of China.
The program’s reach underscores how Beijing uses educational exchanges to build influence with American students even as U.S. officials, the president among them, are increasingly scrutinizing CCP efforts to shape public opinion and gain footholds in institutions. The new Defending Education report raises questions about what students are shown in China, who shapes those experiences and whether schools and families fully understand the political implications of participation.
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Chinese President Xi Jinping speaks during an international business meeting at The Great Hall Of The People on March 28, 2025 in Beijing, China. (Ken Ishii - Pool/Getty Images)
"The Chinese Communist Party engages in cognitive warfare to distort American perceptions of the CCP‘s endless human rights abuses and global aggression," Michael Lucci, the CEO of the national security nonprofit State Armor, told Fox News Digital. "They are reaching deep into our education system to influence American students as one of their influence operations to try to change the way Americans think."
Xi established the program in 2023 with the aim of inviting 50,000 young Americans to the country over five years.
The China Education Association for International Exchange, which runs the program, uses "Marxism-Leninism, Mao Zedong Thought, Deng Xiaoping Theory … and Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era as its guiding ideology and action guide," according to a translation of its Chinese-language website.
"These aren't just cultural trips. They're an integral part of China's broader soft power strategy aimed at infiltrating America's classrooms," Reagan Dugan, the director of Defending Education’s higher education initiative, told Fox News Digital. "Disclosure requirements need to catch up. American students and families deserve to know if their school is partnering with a CCP operation."
The Chinese government maintains that their exchange programs are not intended to serve a political purpose, however.
"China is committed to promoting mutual understanding and friendship between the Chinese and American peoples and advancing exchanges and cooperation between the two countries in areas including trade, education and culture," a spokesperson for the Chinese embassy in D.C. told Fox News Digital. "China opposes politicizing normal people-to-people, educational and economic exchanges. Such unfounded accusations serve no constructive purpose and do not contribute to the healthy development of China-U.S. relations."
"We hope the U.S. side will view China and bilateral relations in an objective and rational manner, provide an open, fair and non-discriminatory environment for exchanges and cooperation, and work together to promote the sound and stable development of China-U.S. relations," they added."
Fox News Digital reached out to the China Education Association for International Exchange for comment on the study, but did not receive a reply.
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One 2025 newsletter published by the Chinese exchange program documents how 27 students from a high school in Chicago took a trip to the Chinese region of Xinjiang, where independent human rights organizations and the United States government say China is carrying out a genocide against Uyghur Muslims.
Despite the human rights abuses occurring in the province, visiting American students were provided with a rosy view of Xinjiang, taking dance classes, practicing calligraphy, doing Tai Chi and lounging at Heshuo Golden Beach.
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If reactions from students and teachers who attend Young Envoys Scholarship trips are anything to go by, the Chinese government program has been successful in winning hearts and minds.
"I am a China fan," one high school student said after participating in a Young Envoys Scholarship program.
"President Xi Jinping’s message is very heartwarming," another student stated. A teacher said that she "strongly agreed with President Xi Jinping’s message that ‘the future is in the hands of the youth.'"
China makes use of these quotes, as well as others from similar trips, in articles produced by its state-run media organizations, which the United States government and some academics have described as "propaganda."
Chinese exchange programs are already on the radar of congressional China hawks.
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"It is a tool used by the CCP to expand its influence over the American public," House Select Committee on the CCP Chairman John Moolenaar wrote in August 2025, addressing a school district in Maryland participating in an exchange program. "American youths should not be used as propaganda tools of the Chinese government to legitimize its authoritarian control or assert its undue influence on the American population."
