WASHINGTON: The US Defense Department has designated Chinese-funded cultural centers on university campuses known as Confucius Institutes as a threat to the United States' national security, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said on Friday (Oct 23).

Washington has long accused Confucius Institutes of being Chinese propaganda tools and has taken steps to crack down on them.

Hegseth, in a video posted on social media, alleged that Confucius Institutes were operating under disguise at US universities and that the Pentagon had added them to its list of institutions that threaten US national security.

"It turns out that 80 new propaganda cells across 30 universities had popped up using different names and different charters, but with the same mission: to steal intellectual property and to infiltrate the minds of American students," Hegseth said.

The Defense Department over the past two months has "systematically dismantled every single one of these organisations," he said.

The Chinese embassy in Washington did not immediately respond to a request for comment.