The Chinese government is setting up as many as 100 national-level think-tanks to try to replicate the US model of policy advice that is independent of powerful ministries.
The focus on think-tanks comes as a political crackdown under President Xi Jinping cuts the flow of information from China’s more independent-minded academics and domestic media organisations available to the bureaucracy.
Mr Xi was vocally displeased last year when the mainland’s main policy advisory body on Taiwan, the Taiwan Affairs Office, incorrectly briefed that the ruling Kuomintang would win local elections, diplomatic sources said. Beijing was caught off-guard when the KMT instead suffered a landslide defeat. At the time, even the KMT expected to lose.