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China-Japan-Koreas

Former director of controversial Chinese institute with links to CCP lands top job at major US university...as Defense Secretary Hegseth warns of new 'propaganda cells' to 'infiltrate minds of American students'

2026-11-04

[Daily Mail, where America gets its news] The former director of a Chinese government-backed Confucius Institute has landed a new role at a cultural center at another major American university – despite years of the Trump administration's efforts to stamp out Beijing's influence on college campuses, the Daily Mail can reveal.

Huajing Maske previously served as the executive director of the University of Kentucky's Confucius Institute, a controversial China-funded educational program that spread across college campuses during the Obama years.

Maske is now the inaugural director of the Sands Institute for Chinese Language and Culture at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, after being appointed to the role last fall.

Her appointment comes amid renewed scrutiny of Chinese influence in American higher education, with Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth recently warning that dozens of alleged Chinese propaganda outlets had resurfaced at universities under different names.

Hegseth last week claimed in a Department of War video that '80 new propaganda cells' had emerged across 30 universities using 'different names and different charters,' but with the same mission: 'to steal intellectual property and to infiltrate the minds ⁠of American students.'

While UNLV has never operated a Confucius Institute, Maske's past ties to Beijing and her history at the helm of the University of Kentucky's program – where she received multiple awards at conferences attended by senior Chinese Communist Party (CCP) officials – raise fresh questions about the links between such China-related educational organizations and US college campuses.

When pressed for comment about Friday's announcement, a UNLV spokesperson told the Daily Mail that the 'US Department of War has not contacted UNLV's Sands Institute for Chinese Language and Culture.'

'The Sands Institute was created through a $15 million gift by the Nevada based Las Vegas Sands Corporation,' the spokesperson added. 'The Institute has not received funding from China.'

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