Remember the Red Chinese, those purveyors of the pandemic and our foremost geopolitical foe? It appears that they’ve found plenty of fellow travelers within our colleges and universities, dozens of which have failed to disclose millions in donations from their communist comrades.

“More than 100 U.S. universities host or once hosted Confucius Institutes, programs underwritten by the Chinese government that teach Chinese language and culture to American college students,” The Washington Free Beacon reports. “The Department of Education requires all credentialed universities to disclose foreign gifts of more than $250,000, but only about 30 percent of [them] have disclosed their financial ties to Beijing.”

We know what you’re thinking: What’s the big deal? Didn’t Joe Biden just last year reassure us that the Chinese were “not bad folks” and “not competition for us”? Besides, what’s a little language, a little culture, and a little espionage between friends?

As our Arnold Ahlert pointed out recently, “In 2019, former FBI Director Christopher Wray testified to Congress that Confucius Institutes ‘offer a platform to disseminate Chinese government or Chinese Communist Party propaganda, to encourage censorship, to restrict academic freedom.’ Yet they remain welcome in America’s educational institutions.”

The question is, why?

“Even more insidious,” said Ahlert, “numerous K-12 public school systems around the nation have also embraced these propaganda mills. In addition to Confucius Institutes, there are ‘Confucius Classrooms’ that ostensibly teach language, operating in more than 500 elementary, middle, and high schools.” But don’t fret: It’s for the children.

Earlier still, in February 2018, Josh Rogin reported on warnings from our intelligence community about these institutes as potential spying outposts. But beyond the immediate theft of our intellectual property, the Chinese are playing the long game. “Their goal is to exploit America’s academic freedom to instill in the minds of future leaders a pro-China viewpoint,” said Florida Senator Marco Rubio. “It’s smart. It’s a long-term, patient approach.”

While some schools have gotten the message, others clearly haven’t. According to the National Association of Scholars, there were still 81 Confucius Institutes in the U.S. as of May 15. As the Free Beacon reports, however, their days may be numbered. “Dozens of [student] activists, supported by hundreds of College Democrats and College Republicans chapters, launched the Athenai Institute in May to call for the ‘immediate and permanent closure of all Confucius Institutes in the United States,’ as well as a full disclosure of all university ties to Chinese state agencies and proxies.”

Young Democrats and Republicans working together? There may be hope for our Republic yet.

As for the institutes themselves, they have a social-media presence both here and abroad, and a slick website to promote such things as their Coronavirus Response Initiative, their partnership with the Red Cross, and “the U.S. Government’s Surprising Defense of the Confucius Institute Programs.” Sadly, nowhere on the website will you see a nod to the Germans, whose classy Goethe Institutes have been around a lot longer than this cheap Chinese knock-off.

But lest we think the ChiComs are genuinely interested in cultural exchanges, these Confucius Institutes are one-way streets. One wonders why we haven’t followed the lead of Sweden, which sent the last of these institutes packing earlier this year.

Maybe it’s the case, as our Mark Alexander recently pointed out, that our mainstream media is simply running interference for the ChiComs. And here, maybe we should just follow the money. As The Daily Signal’s Chuck Ross reported Monday, “One of China’s main propaganda outlets has paid American newspapers nearly $19 million for advertising and printing expenses over the past four years, according to documents filed with the Justice Department … [including] more than $4.6 million to The Washington Post and nearly $6 million to The Wall Street Journal since November 2016.”

Of course, it could also be true that we’re just making a big deal out of nothing. As the Democrat Party’s presumptive nominee once chided us, “China is going to eat our lunch? Come on, man.”