U.S. requires Confucius Institute center to register as foreign mission

FILE PHOTO: U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo delivers a speech during a ceremony at the General Patton memorial in Pilsen, Czech Republic August 11, 2020. Petr David Josek/Pool via REUTERS

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States said on Thursday it was requiring the center that manages Chinese government-funded Confucius Institutes in the United States to register as a foreign mission, the latest sign of deteriorating relations between Washington and Beijing.

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, in a statement, labeled the Confucius Institute U.S. Center in Washington "an entity advancing Beijing's global propaganda and malign influence campaign on U.S. campuses and K-12 classrooms."