The Chinese Academy of Social Sciences ranked 27th among more than 6,000 think tanks worldwide. (Photo : Reuters)
According to the 2014 Global Go To Think Tank Index Report that was release on Thursday, seven different think tanks from China, including the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS) and the Development Research Center of the State Council, ranked among 150 think tanks globally.
Think tanks are organizations that work behind the scenes and are often unseen in the eyes of the general public. However, they happen to be very influential to the internal affairs of a country from politics to economics and from military to diplomacy. They are the experts, researchers and are policymakers through consultations and advice they give.
Out of all 6,826 think tanks in the world, there are 426 Chinese think tanks, making the country second to the United States in terms of number. Six Chinese think tanks showed up on the top 100 international think tanks.
The Development Research Center of the State Council ranked the highest on the list of Chinese think tanks in terms of strength. It was followed by the Chinese Academy of Social Science and Peking University.
A discussion was raised that China has indeed improved when it comes to the development of its think tanks, but still is behind its foreign counterparts, according to a panel discussion on Thursday co-hosted by the Global Times.
The top-ranking think tank was the U.S.-based Brookings Institution. CASS ranked 27th and was the highest ranked Chinese think tank, according to the report.
The report is annually released since 2006 by the University of Pennsylvania.
China's think tanks should primarily shift their focus on the development of professionalism and improving their funding, stated Zhu Xufeng, a Tsinghua University professor.
The general offices of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and the State Council released guidelines on Tuesday about developing "a new type of think tank with Chinese characteristics." It serves as the first guideline to allow intellectual aid to the country's policy-making process and strengthening its soft power.
