EXCLUSIVE — Private schools operated by Chinese-linked entities could no longer host junior military programs if a bill introduced by Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) on Tuesday becomes law.
The Deterring Egregious State Infiltration of Schools’ Training Act would bar the Pentagon from running Junior Reserve Officers’ Training Corps programs at Chinese-owned private schools, cutting off a potential source of Chinese influence.
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Rep. Mike Waltz (R-FL) introduced a version of the ban in the House in February alongside Rep. Chrissy Houlahan (D-PA) after asking the Pentagon to audit how many Chinese-owned schools were operating JROTC programs.
It is unclear whether the Department of Defense has a tally of every military program that a Chinese Communist Party-connected entity might be running.
Chinese investors have purchased American private schools in recent years amid rising demand in China for children to receive a U.S. education.
Former President Donald Trump’s alma mater, the New York Military Academy, was sold to Chinese investors in 2015. The school continued to operate its JROTC program for years under Chinese control, shuttering it in 2019, but it continues to run a “military leadership program.”
The Florida Preparatory Academy runs a JROTC program for its students despite the school’s purchase in 2017 by a Chinese corporation whose chairman has ties to the Chinese Communist Party.
“The Chinese Communist Party wants to control everything Americans see, hear, and ultimately think,” Cruz said. “They have used Confucius Institutes to target college campuses across America, and I passed legislation in 2017 to deny Defense Department funding to schools that hosted Confucius Institutes, which ultimately got rid of most of them.”
“Today, they are using other methods to target the next generation of Americans, and the DESIST Act is an important step in continuing our effort to combat the CCP’s influence whenever it appears in our schools,” the Texas Republican said.
Confucius Institutes are Chinese cultural centers that began appearing on American college campuses in 2005 and have stirred controversy for allegedly trying to recruit agents and spread influence in the United States.
“Firms with direct ties with the CCP are buying up American private schools, and it’s alarming our government has been supporting some of these schools financially,” Waltz said. “Our legislation would ensure that the American taxpayer will no longer foot the bill for JROTC programs controlled by Communist China.”
A congressional aide told the Washington Examiner Republicans expect to see the JROTC ban included in the House version of this year’s National Defense Authorization Act, the bill that funds the Pentagon annually.
Cruz and other Senate Republicans will work to include it in the Senate NDAA, although the Democrats in control of the upper chamber could make that attempt more difficult.
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The push to stop JROTC programs at Chinese-owned schools comes as lawmakers in both parties grow increasingly interested in limiting the CCP’s influence in the U.S.
Bipartisan efforts to ban the Chinese-owned app TikTok and to limit American investment in manufacturing chips and semiconductors in China have attracted broad support, signaling an increase in skepticism about the U.S.-China relationship on Capitol Hill.