Confucius Institutes are Chinese culture and language centers embedded in US universities and schools around the world. They’ve long been criticized for allowing the Chinese government a foothold on American campuses to suppress speech criticizing China. US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has suddenly escalated tensions, declaring they will all close by the end of the year. As The World’s Rupa Shenoy reports, some say if universities comply, they’ll be allowing the US government to interfere in academia, the same way the Chinese government does.