TAIPEI, Taiwan—U.S. de-facto ambassador to Taiwan said on Jan. 16 that people should turn to Taiwan to learn the Chinese language instead of mainland China. He especially warned about the language programs offered by Beijing-funded Confucius Institutes (CIs) on U.S. college campuses. William Brent Christensen, the Taipei office director of the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT), which is the de-facto U.S. embassy in Taiwan, made the remarks at a local Chinese language symposium. The event was part of the U.S.-Taiwan Education Initiative the two sides launched in December last year. “We have all read news stories about the closing of many of the PRC’s [People’s Republic of China] Confucius Centers in the U.S. Now is the time for Taiwan to step forward and help fill this gap—not only to teach Mandarin and learn English, but to more fully tell Taiwan’s story to their American students,” said Christensen in a speech …