Chinese Diplomats Urge Resolution to Visa Issue Involving Confucius Institute Teachers

China’s Foreign Ministry said Thursday that its officials are in talks with their American counterparts to resolve a flap over visas for teachers at Confucius Institutes based at universities in the United States, reports The Wall Street Journal. “We hope it doesn’t affect the development of the Confucius Institute project,” Hong Lei, a spokesman for the ministry, said about the matter during a daily press briefing. The news that Chinese-language schoolteachers affiliated with university-based Confucius Institutes who hold J-1 visas may have to leave the country within weeks has generated an online buzz in China. Some Chinese argue the move by the U.S. State Department is a sign that America fears the growing culture influence of China. A State Department official has said the visa-policy directive was not intended to disrupt the activities of Confucius Institutes, but is a regulatory matter.