Independence of mind to support policymaking

At a two-day seminar hosted by the Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences and the University of Pennsylvania late last month in Shanghai, experts from leading global think tanks urged their Chinese counterparts to maintain independence from the government.

China has about 2,000 think tanks, which can be classified into four broad categories: research and information centers affiliated with the Communist Party of China, governments and the army; institutes of the academies of the social sciences system such as SASS; university study centers; and private research centers. Except for the last category, which is largely funded by enterprises, the first three groups are essentially State-dominated.

China has witnessed two waves of think tank development. The first was in the 1980s, when the entire nation began to build up a market economy. The second was after 2000, with the spread of the Internet in China.

Although China probably has more think tanks than any other country, few of those bodies are globally known for the quality of their research. The most famous organization, the Development Research Center of the State Council, is a ministry-level department directly under the State Council (cabinet), and it derives its influence through several key members who directly participate in drafting major policies for the central government.

Few of the State-run research centers would be classified as think tanks according to Western standards, which emphasize independence. And that situation actually weakens Chinese think tanks' usefulness for the government and the public, many scholars argued at the seminar.

Most of the reports published by Chinese think tanks are just compilations of news items, government policies, corporate annual reports and recycled research from international organizations. These documents give the think tanks some media exposure, but their low quality means they are of little value to policymakers.

The deepening of reforms, the main task for the new government led by Xi Jinping and Li Keqiang starting last year, is a turning point for Chinese think tanks. Those that produce only low-quality research will see their influence wane. The reforms, which require cutting red tape, are an "internal revolution" of the government. The authorities need to draw on wisdom from more independent sources beyond the CPC and the government.

"State leaders need more practical solutions arrived at through a scientific consensus," Wang Zhan, director of SASS, said at the seminar.

The Party vowed to promote the growth of new types of think tanks late last year. Since then, State leaders have indicated an urgent need for more pragmatic, farsighted reports whose findings haven't been influenced by special interests.

The seminar provided an opportunity for representatives from all major Chinese think tanks to get ideas from their foreign counterparts on how to maintain independence, which, as the Western thinkers believe, comes from financial and ideological independence.

Some of the Chinese policy analysts, however, have a different concept of independence. "Taking money from the government may not necessarily influence the independence of think tanks," said Song Xiaowu, councilor for the Beijing-based China Society of Economic Reform.

Nie Yongyou, vice-director of the School of Economics at Shanghai University, said: "I do not think Chinese think tanks should copy the Western model, as long as we always focus on the public interest and provide decision input for the government, public agencies and economic organizations."

According to Wei Jian'guo, vice-director of the China Center for International Economic Exchanges, which is under the nation's chief economic planner, the National Development and Reform Commission, financial independence and independence of thought is vital for the quality of think tanks' research. Lack of independence weakens Chinese think tanks' ability to make strategic forecasts.

Some conference attendees also said it is important to pay more attention to how think tanks influence policymakers.

"I think it's more important to focus on how to transform think tanks' research into policies that benefit the public" than arguing about independence, said Wang Ronghua, head of the think tank research center of SASS.

Victor Yuan, president of Horizon Research Consultancy Group, a Beijing-based private-sector think tank, said his researchers focus more on the objectivity of the data and methodology. "We are always careful not to be misled by different interest groups in our research from the very beginning of data mining and to choose the right research methods."

Qi Ye, director of the Tsinghua-Brookings Public Policy Research Center in Beijing, also noted that think tanks' solutions for the government should ensure that the policymaking process is not "hijacked" by particular interest groups. Qi added that "think tanks need to find new funding sources apart from the government".

Qi also touched on some other pressing problems with China's think tanks. He said China should establish a national think tank association to serve as a platform to promote communications among think tanks and the development of private think tanks. And Chinese think tanks should also open up to the world, he said.

James G. McGann, who studies think tanks at the University of Pennsylvania, said that Chinese think tanks should interact with their global counterparts, initially by making their websites more informative, reader-friendly and faster to open for foreigners.

"Chinese think tanks should actively participate in cooperation with [those from] the Association of Southeast Asian Nations," said Suthiphand Chiathivat, an assistant professor at Chulalongkorn University in Thailand. "We can do more research on regional development issues to better serve cooperation between China and ASEAN."