A U.S. State Department directive that would require all Chinese-language schoolteachers affiliated with university-based Confucius Institutes who hold J-1 visas to leave the country within weeks could “harm” Sino-American exchanges, according to the Chinese official responsible for overseeing the language and cultural centers in the United States.
In an e-mail message to The Chronicle, Wang Yongli, deputy chief executive of the Office of Chinese Language Council International, or Hanban, called the recent policy statement “unilateral” and said he was “taken by surprise and quite shocked” by its release.
The State Department directive, in a memorandum sent late last week to the 80 American universities that host Confucius Institutes, said that foreign professors, academics, and students at the university level are prohibited from teaching in elementary and secondary schools. The visa holders—about 600 currently, according to Mr. Wang—will have to leave the United States by the end of June and must reapply for the correct visa to return to this country, which would also entail finding a new sponsor, the State Department has said.
Providing Chinese-language teachers to public and private schools at the precollege level is a major part of the mission of many of the institutes. But in an interview on Tuesday, a State Department official said that the regulations governing J-1 visas, which are given to people participating in work- and study-based exchange programs, clearly bar universities from sponsoring visas for foreign schoolteachers. She said college officials should have known that they were not complying with visa regulations.
‘The Feeling of Being Unwelcome’
Institute directors, however, said they always had believed that bringing in elementary- and secondary-school teachers on J-1 visas was permissible and was condoned by the U.S. government, a position echoed by Mr. Wang in his message. Noting that China has sent more than 2,100 teachers to the United States through Confucius Institutes since 2005, he wrote, “What is hard to understand is that the U.S., known for its strict visa policies, has allowed all these years for the Chinese teachers to hold their current visa.”
The State Department had “never mentioned this issue to us before,” he said, “but then suddenly unilaterally makes such an announcement. What is the reason for this decision?”
Mr. Wang said he is concerned about the impact of the action on American schools and schoolchildren and said it could affect the careers and personal lives of the language instructors, many of whom will have to leave in the middle of their teaching obligations. The teachers, he added, play an important role in another academic and cultural exchange, the 100,000 Strong Initiative, an Obama-administration pledge to double the number of Americans studying in China. The instructors encourage students to study in China, he said.
“All the teachers embarked on their trip with a U.S. friendly heart but are forced back with the feeling of being unwelcome,” Mr. Wang wrote. “Isn’t this a form of harm to the friendship between Chinese and American people?”
Both the United States and China have emphasized the importance of academic and cultural exchanges in diplomatic outreach. Indeed, Hanban has sponsored teachers and students to come to China, as part of the 100,000 Strong effort, Mr. Wang noted.
The visa problems, he suggested, could have an effect on future exchanges. Comparing the Confucius Institutes to a “beautiful flower in the world’s multicultural garden,” he wrote, “We do not want to see this flower being suppressed without a reason, for it would dampen the enthusiasm of Sino-U.S. educational and cultural exchange.”
In a written statement, the State Department reaffirmed its commitment to such programs. “The United States is committed to strong, sustained support for educational and cultural exchange, including the learning of critical languages. We strongly support people-to-people cooperation with China.”
The visa directive, the statement said, “is intended to ensure that foreign teachers come to the United States under the proper visa category. We do not seek to pose undue hardship on teaching schedules or limit educational and cultural exchange.”