Think tanks developing in different ways

That requires us to alter some common misunderstandings. It should be first made clear that influence does not equal being official and the influence of a think tank should never be judged only by how much of its advice is accepted by the government. In this Information Age, instead of directly offering their research results to the government, Chinese think tanks could publish their reports via the Internet and gain social instead of official influence. Rallying mass support online is often the best way of making the government accept policy advice.

On the other hand, independence does not equate to being unofficial, either. Think tanks should bear in mind that the government is the ultimate consumer of their advice, as well as a primary source of information for their research efforts, so they can never be completely detached from the government. Besides, even those not funded by the government can also be reliant upon the source of their funding. Think tanks that intentionally stay away from or even oppose the government fall into another trap.

Therefore influence and independence are not necessarily mutually exclusive. On the contrary, only those with considerable influence can achieve true independence and be truly free to support or blame the government, no matter who funds them.

That makes a new mode for Chinese think tanks possible. Actually, with deepening reform, Chinese think tanks are already breaking the official monopoly and following different ways of being: think tanks sponsored by private funds or dual fund sources are emerging.

This trend is both a reaction to the ongoing social transformation and a positive attempt to form a new development mode for Chinese think tanks.

The author is a professor of public administration at Tsinghua University. This is an excerpt of his speech at a recent "Think tank and the development of China" conference organized by Beijing-based Center for China&Globalization.

(China Daily 04/21/2014 page8)