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BICCS Asia Paper Vol. 5 (5) 1

Thomas Bondiguel and Thierry Kellner  

The impact of China’s foreign policy

think tanksChina’s foreign policy think tanks 2

Executive summary - Chinese international relations experts are

crisscrossing the world and became prominent voices in academic and

policy debates about international affairs. But we still know very littleabout the Chinese think tank world.

By 2010, China had 428 think tanks, which placed it on a number two

position behind the US. Given China’s growing presence on the

international scene, think tanks have indeed been consulted more

frequently by administrations and senior leaders. Every important

institution dealing with diplomacy can now rely on large think tanks for

support. Some recent diplomatic concepts like “peaceful development”

were conceived in consultations between the top-leadership and prominent

advisors.

Think tanks are becoming increasingly topic-specific and a division of

labour seems to be developing among different institutes. The quality of

research has increased gradually thanks to the experience abroad of many

experts, growing competition between experts and more opportunities for

open debate.

Much of the interaction between think tankers and the policy makers is still

built on a complex system of  guanxi and seniority. Study trips abroad and

consultation meetings with officials are rewarding activities for researchers

who seek influence. The  pishi system evaluates the quality and importance

experts’ reports.

Besides delivering expertise, think tanks are also expected to convey the

government’s viewpoint to audiences abroad. Experts have become animportant part of China’s public diplomacy.

Chinese experts tend to be unimpressed with the expert dialogues with

the European Union, which they find weak in terms of content and the

impact on EU-China cooperation.

Thomas Bondiguel and Thierry Kellner are associated fellows at BICCS.

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