2011 report to congress - U.S.-China Economic and Security Review ...

dkrause on DSKHT7XVN1PROD with $$_JOB270symbol of the growing economic ties between China andBrazil. According to Chen Yuan [governor of China DevelopmentBank], ‘once the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministryof Commerce, the National Development and ReformCommission and the State Council realized this coincidence,they provided their active support. As a result, thisproject became a national project.’ 156Academics and Think TanksAs China’s foreign policy becomes more complex, its leaders increasinglyare turning to academics and think tanks to inform theirdebates about policies related to international affairs. Think tanksand universities operate under varying degrees of official administration,with many think tanks funded entirely by the governmentand major universities overseen by party officials. For this reason,some doubt the independence and the reliability of the informationthese institutions are providing to policymakers. A study by theBrussels Institute of Contemporary China Studies characterizesChinese think tanks as:[P]ermanent, policy oriented structures with their own researchstaff who regularly publish and communicate the resultsof their studies to officials and to the public, albeit toa lesser extent than their Western counterparts. They allstrive to achieve greater freedom of research and to contributeto the public good, although these orientations areof course bound by the red lines set by the government andby the need to respect the primacy of the CCP in their policysolutions. 157Chinese scholars influence foreign policymakers through formalchannels and informal connections to top leaders. 158 For example,think tanks often submit reports to their affiliated government organizations,and academics are sought out by government officialsto participate in meetings or conferences on foreign policy issues. 159Their opinions often differ, and at times debates between scholarsare made public in the media. An example of this type of debatetook place in December 2009 when the Chinese newspaper GlobalTimes published a debate between two scholars about whetherChina should intervene militarily in Afghanistan. 160 However, onparticularly sensitive core issues for the CCP, such as Taiwan andTibet, leaders allow little leeway for scholarly debate in publicfora. 161Major Chinese foreign policy research institutions and theiraffiliations 162InstitutionAdministering organizationCommunist PartyInternational Strategy Research Institute Central Party SchoolPeople’s Liberation ArmyAcademy of Military SciencesCentral Military CommissionNational Defence UniversityCentral Military CommissionChina Institute for International Strategic PLA General Staff DepartmentStudiesChina Foundation for International Strategic PLA General Staff DepartmentStudiesVerDate Nov 24 2008 13:46 Nov 10, 2011 Jkt 067464 PO 00000 Frm 00282 Fmt 6601 Sfmt 6601 G:\GSDD\USCC\2011\067464.XXX 067464