Independence of mind to support policymaking

Some conference attendees also said it is important to pay more attention to how think tanks influence policymakers.

"I think it's more important to focus on how to transform think tanks' research into policies that benefit the public" than arguing about independence, said Wang Ronghua, head of the think tank research center of SASS.

Victor Yuan, president of Horizon Research Consultancy Group, a Beijing-based private-sector think tank, said his researchers focus more on the objectivity of the data and methodology. "We are always careful not to be misled by different interest groups in our research from the very beginning of data mining and to choose the right research methods."

Qi Ye, director of the Tsinghua-Brookings Public Policy Research Center in Beijing, also noted that think tanks' solutions for the government should ensure that the policymaking process is not "hijacked" by particular interest groups. Qi added that "think tanks need to find new funding sources apart from the government".

Qi also touched on some other pressing problems with China's think tanks. He said China should establish a national think tank association to serve as a platform to promote communications among think tanks and the development of private think tanks. And Chinese think tanks should also open up to the world, he said.

James G. McGann, who studies think tanks at the University of Pennsylvania, said that Chinese think tanks should interact with their global counterparts, initially by making their websites more informative, reader-friendly and faster to open for foreigners.

"Chinese think tanks should actively participate in cooperation with [those from] the Association of Southeast Asian Nations," said Suthiphand Chiathivat, an assistant professor at Chulalongkorn University in Thailand. "We can do more research on regional development issues to better serve cooperation between China and ASEAN."

Note: Based on translated seminar transcripts provided by SASS.

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