Beijing, China - China accused the US on Monday of "targeted smearing" over Washington's designation of Beijing-funded Confucius Institute cultural centers as national security threats.

Washington considers the centers on American university campuses as propaganda tools of the Chinese Communist Party and has imposed funding restrictions on the institutes since 2025.

US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said on Friday his department had dismantled dozens of similar organizations over two months that had reappeared in disguise, "using different names... but with the same mission" and deemed them a threat to national security.

China's foreign ministry criticized the move on Monday.

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"We oppose the targeted smearing and stigmatization of Confucius Institutes," ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun said at a news conference.

"China-US educational exchanges and cooperation are beneficial to enhancing mutual understanding between the people of both countries," he said, adding that such ties "should not be interfered with or undermined."

China has set up hundreds of Confucius Institutes in more than 150 countries over the last two decades, according to the body that oversees them.

Presented as China's answer to organizations such as Germany's Goethe-Institut or the British Council, they offer language lessons and cultural exchange programs.

Chinese leader Xi Jinping has called them a "symbol of China's unremitting efforts for world peace and international cooperation."

Dozens of Confucius Institutes have closed down in several countries following similar accusations of foreign interference, including in France, Sweden, Australia, and Canada.