A competitor performs Chinese calligraphy during the preliminary contest of the 10th Chinese Bridge language proficiency competition for the midwest of the United States at the Confucius Institute of Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana, the United States, April 23, 2011. File Photo:Xinhua

The termination of cooperation between US College Board and Confucius Institute (CI) Headquarters (Hanban) is a normal behavior, Center for Language Education and Cooperation (CLEC) under the Ministry of Education told the Global Times on Tuesday after the College Board announced it will sever financial cooperation with the CI Headquarters under pressure from some US lawmakers.

The CLEC also slammed some US politicians who distorted facts, stressing that it resolutely opposed their shameless behavior. The CI headquarters changed its name to the CLEC months ago. 

The US College Board, which is responsible for developing AP and SAT tests, announced that it would cut financial ties with the CI headquarters at the end of this year, reported news website The Center Square on Tuesday. 

According to the report, US Senator Marsha Blackburn and six other senators together sent a letter to the CEO of College Board David Coleman and asked him to clarify the organization's relations with CI Headquarters last week and to what extent the Chinese government has influenced the test development and arrangement of guest teachers in the US.

Blackburn also wrote on Twitter that "The #CCP will continue looking for other avenues to gain influence in the American education system, and we must remain vigilant and push back against Chinese influence." Global Times reporters noticed that anti-China politicians Marco Rubio and Tom Cotton are among the six other senators involved in the letter. 

In a reply letter, Vice President of College Board Elissa Kim wrote "2020 is the final year in which the College Board will receive or pursue any grant funding from Hanban."

In response to this announcement, the CLEC told the Global Times that the contract between the CI headquarters (Hanban) and the College Board would expire at the end of the year and it's a normal behavior of ending the cooperation between the two sides.

"We are firmly opposed to the shameless behavior of a few US politicians who fabricate lies, distort facts and make groundless slander," said the CLEC in the statement sent to the Global Times.  

"Some US politicians politicized such normal and mutually beneficial educational exchanges and cooperation, imposed pressure and tried their best to spread rumors and slander. This is not only a manifestation of the Cold War mentality, but also shows an extreme lack of cultural confidence, which will ultimately harm the interests of the American people," said the CLEC. 

Global Times learned that the CI Headquarters have maintained good bilateral cultural exchanges and cooperation with the College Board for years. In one co-hosted program, more than 5,500 school principals from 50 US states and Washington DC, visited China from 2006 to 2019. The participants gave high marks to the program. 

According to the College Board's tracking survey in 2019, 100 percent of the participants in the program said they would recommend the program to their colleagues. 

Martin Miller, a participant in the 2019 program from a school in Ohio said bringing Chinese culture to Ohio and local schools where there are few immigrants is a great way to help children learn more about China. He said he hoped to bring in more Chinese teachers to Ohio.

This is not the first time that the US government and some US politicians have attacked CI. In August, US Department of State designated CI in the US as a foreign mission. In October, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo threatened to shut down all Confucius Institutes and their classrooms in the US. 

While facing increasing pressure from the US, the CLEC was still optimistic about Chinese teaching in the US. The center told the Global Times that the cultivation of Chinese language talents is the "inelastic demand" of the international community, including the US for Chinese language education.

"Chinese language education in the US has a good foundation of market-oriented operation. The number of students learning Chinese is large and keeps growing. Chinese language education is actually in short supply in the US education market, so cooperation between the two sides in the field of Chinese language education is an inevitable trend," said the center.