China’s Think Tanks, the King’s Counsellors

Abstract

Compiled and commented by Michal Meidan based on:* Ma Changbo, "A review of the official research centres in China", Nanfang zhoumo, 11 October 2007.The article in Nanfang zhoumo, published just ahead of the 17th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC), attempts to shed light on the world, "both known and obscure," of the official Chinese re- search centres and their influence over decision-making in China. Chinese leaders have been making great play of their desire for their decision-making to be more "scientific and democratic":((1) in that context, the research carried out by Nanfang zhoumo updates its readers on how relations be- tween China's decision-makers and its research community have evolved and taken institutional shape.The survey portrays the best known of the Chinese think tanks and identifies how they interact with the decision-mak- ers; it also describes the various channels available to them for communicating their views: colloquiums, brainstorming sessions, reports, articles, and personal meetings when called in by political leaders. Looking more closely at the writer's depiction, it would seem that the think tanks' influence de- rives as much from the standing of the research institute as from personal affinities between leaders and experts.Ma identifies two types of research centres, the first being the training establishments for officials, among them the Central Party School and the School of Administrative Studies, where leaders from different provinces can meet and exchange views with the experts.Since the Central Party School provides guidance, advice, and training in the ideological field, it is not surprising to find jour- nalists eager to scrutinise the commentaries of those who teach there, especially during Party Congresses and before important political announcements. The lecturers' regular exchanges with Party officials and their frequent participation in drawing up government papers make them reliable indicators of political trends. A notable illustration: as early as 25 June 2007, the of- ficial Xinhua news agency highlighted the importance of Hu Jintao's speech to the Central Party School as indicative of the political line to be adopted by the 17th National Congress.((2)The School of Administrative Studies (guojia xingzheng xueyuan) also helps with official texts and contributes to re- search in the general areas of political and economic re- forms. It recently carried out a study of the social security system for the State Council. It provides two such studies each year on average, commissioned by working groups com- posed of ministers, deputy ministers, or local leaders. The working groups pass on their reports to the State Council, and their conclusions are then opened up for informal dis- cussions between government leaders and researchers. The State Council may eventually issue a statement on the sub- ject, and a ministerial group will combine the "spirit of that statement" with the working group's conclusions to make im- provements to the text. This final text is submitted to the State Council for approval.Thus, in 1998, the School of Administrative Studies carried out research projects on reforming and supervising the bank- ing system; in 2000, it examined how the policy of "develop- ing the West" (xibu kaifa) should be implemented; in 2007, the two meetings were related to questions of social security and healthcare. The Central Party School is said to proceed in the same way, but tackling subjects in different areas.The research centres depending directly on the State Coun- cil, such as the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the Chi- nese Academy of Social Sciences (CAS and CASS) or the powerful Centre for Macroeconomic Research of the Na- tional Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), provide anywhere between 200 and 400 studies a year. They are also involved in researching and preparing texts for the five-year plans and for administrative regulations, mainly in the economic sphere, whereas the Schools contribute to preparing speeches for National Party Congresses or for ple- nary sessions of the Central Committee. …