Non-governmental think tanks to play a larger role in changing times
- By Zhu Bochen
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E-mail China.org.cn, December 3, 2020
Chinese think tank members on Nov.24 called for more attention to be paid to opinions from non-governmental think tanks in the decision-making process on public issues.
The panel discussion took place during the Fifth Annual China Global Think Tank Innovation Forum in Beijing.
"Similar to the way private businesses have contributed to China's market economy, non-governmental think tanks will help promote the development of China's marketplace of ideas," said Wang Huiyao, president of the Center for China and Globalization (CCG).
Wang added that more efforts should be made to support the ecosystem of such think tanks as well as their diversity, in order to increase the number of available options and provide feasibility research works for decision-making.
China's five-year plans, for example, have included non-governmental think tanks in the reasoning process, and this has helped improve the efficiency and precision of policies, Wang said.
China proposed strengthening the building of new types of think tanks with Chinese characteristics back in 2013. A guiding document was then issued in 2017 to promote the sound development of non-governmental think tanks accordingly.
As of 2019, China had a total of 507 think tanks, ranking third in the world after the United States and India, according to the 2019 Global Go To Think Tank Index Report.
Regarding the major changes taking place inside and outside China over the years, Wang Yue, executive secretary general of the Academic Committee at the Pangoal Institution, believes that Chinese think tanks are dealing with many issues which are rarely studied.
These include global inventory adjustments, new growth drivers, as well as China's rapid pace of urbanization, ageing and digitalization, he said.
"The research of think tanks should be mutually consistent with logics across multiple fields such as economics and politics," said Wang Yue. He explained that instead of producing mere academic paperwork, think tanks should participate in the decision-making process with an open mind and provide solutions to practical problems.
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