Think Tanks of China

     Since we are in a kind of segue in the realm of debate, I decided to explore think tanks in China and  outline the major players in this up and coming country. The Brookings Institute did an analysis on them and stated that in 2009 China started to fund think tanks in ways not seen before in the country where the term "people" pervade every single propaganda idea. Specifically, they mentioned the emergence of a so-called super think tank:

    "In March the State Council approved the founding of a new think tank in Beijing, the China Center for  International Economic Exchanges (CCIEE)"        CCIE Home

      Now, the biggest difference between an American think tank and the CCIEE is that the Chinese think tank is essentially, as one would expect, closely tied with the government. Their scope is to be under the guidance of the National Development and Reform Commission. A closer look at their leadership shows how many of them were close with the upper echleons of Chinese leadership. You can see former governor's of provinces, people on the People's Congress, the chairman of the State-Owned Assets Supervision and Administration, the Vice Premier of the State Council of China, and so on. 

                                        Leadership of CCIEE
     While CSIS may sport Henry Kissinger, these Chinese think tanks sport the majority of their leaders as political influentials over just scholars. However, CCIEE is close to the powers that are similar to how many think tanks are in the DC Area. According to Brookings,

        "CCIEE’s close ties to the Chinese leadership is its physical proximity to the levers of power—its current office is located only a few hundred meters from Zhongnanhai, the headquarters of both the Chinese Communist Party and the State Council."

     So, one would expect that the "research" that comes out of these think tanks will be more biased than the advocacy think tanks over here in the States. Since it's extremely close to the Communist Party, one can probably assume that the think tank will be used as a puppet to take blame for the party's errors as well as to promote whatever agenda they wish to address. Thus, it makes me wonder whether it is possible for China to ever have an honest think tank climate given the Commmunist Party's vice grip on the country as a whole. Nonetheless, it must be understood that these think tanks will be the big collaborators with our "Big Five" over here as well as competitors in the global plane of ideas.

     I stumbled across this video where a Chinese think tank is attempting to suggest that India should be divided as a whole, which is astutely pointed out is due to an inherent fear of the growing might of India's own economy. Even though there is pervasive poverty in the two countries, these countries are going to be heavyweights combating it out over many major issues in the far east for a long time to come. Let's hope they never go to war! Anyway, here is the video:

     In the ever enlightening comments that are from Youtube, one can see a flame war with the Chinese attacking the Indian report. I had a roommate who just came from China freshman year, and, every time we discussed India, he spoke of them in a negative light calling them "dirty" with negative body language to boot. Whether these neighbors don't like each other because of economic reasons or cultural, I am not sure. Overall though, I wanted to show how the Chinese will be using a think tank's research as a way to make political statements as time goes on. Will these Chinese think tanks induce more think tanks to take up the political voice with diluted research is something I am interested in seeing.