Abstract
The chapter introduces the China Institute of International Studies (CIIS). CIIS, the first Chinese think tank dedicated to the study of international relations, was founded in 1956 and ever since it has been affiliated to China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA). During its long process of evolution from an affiliated institute (IIR) of China’s Academy of Science (CAS), CIIS has worked closely with China’s government, catering to its demand for track-two diplomacy. CIIS consists of seven area-focused departments and five interdisciplinary research centers, with an organizational research management center and an international exchange office in charge of outreach activities. Its structure includes a library, an information center, and an editorial department which publishes academic papers, journals (China International Studies), and annual reports (CIIS Report) on a regular basis. Several case studies are presented to describe the development of the concept of “Responsible Protection” against “R2P.” The Institute’s influence on energy and security development shows the recent developments at CIIS. This chapter also underscores several limitations of CIIS, including the challenges of high-frequency and up-to-date research products and the internationalization of its website. Lastly, the chapter suggests some future directions, such as enacting administrative reform, strengthening the academic endeavor, innovating in the research program, engaging in public diplomacy, and fostering international cooperation.
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Notes
- 1.
Yaseng Huang, “How Did China Take Off,” Journal of Economic Perspectives, Vol. 26, No. 4 (Fall 2012): 149.
- 2.
Ibid., 150.
- 3.
Cheng Li, “China’s New Think Tanks: Where Officials, Entrepreneurs, and Scholars Interact, China Leadership Monitor, No. 29 (Summer 2009): 2, http://www.brookings.edu/research/articles/2009/08/summer-china-li.
- 4.
Ibid.
- 5.
David Shambaugh, “China’s International Relations Think Tanks: Evolving Structure and Process,” The China Quarterly, No. 171 (September 2002): 575, http://www.jstor.org/stable/4618770.
- 6.
Ibid., 580.
- 7.
Ibid., 581.
- 8.
RAND Corporation, “Standards for High-Quality Research and Analysis”, RAND Corporation Publications, 2014, http://www.rand.org/pubs/corporate_pubs/CP413-2014-02.html.
- 9.
China-US Joint Working Group, “China-US Cooperation: Key to the Global Future,” Atlantic Council, September 17, 2013, http://www.atlanticcouncil.org/publications/reports/china-us-cooperation-key-to-the-global-future.
- 10.
It now has a special website and more details can be found at http://www.ciis.org.cn/gyzz/index.html.
- 11.
James McGann, 2014 Global Go To Think Tank Index Report, (Philadelphia: Think Tanks and Civil Societies Program, 2015), http://repository.upenn.edu/think_tanks/8.
- 12.
Ruan Zongze, “China Should Advocate Responsible Protection”, Huanqiu, March 7, 2012, http://opinion.huanqiu.com/1152/2012-03/2501163.html.
- 13.
Ruan Zongze, “Responsible Protection: Building a Safer World,” China International Studies 34 (2012): 19–41. It can also be found at the CIIS website http://www.ciis.org.cn/english/2012-06/15/content_5090912.htm.
- 14.
CIIS held International Conference on “Responsible Protection: Building a Safer World”, November 12, 2013, http://www.ciis.org.cn/english/2013-11/12/content_6454221.htm.
- 15.
ICISS refers to the International Commission on Intervention and State Sovereignty.
- 16.
It acknowledges individual state and collective global responsibility for the victims of atrocities. The implementation of the protection agenda demonstrates responsibility to the international community. It accepts responsibility for the actions of those doing the protection; that is, it introduces the requirement for an international accountability mechanism. Finally, it shows that China is a responsible stakeholder in a rules-based global order. In Ruan’s words, “China must have the courage to speak out and contribute ideas to the world.” The idea of responsible protection will help China build “a just and reasonable new international political order.” See Ramesh Thakur, “A Chinese Version of ‘Responsible Protection’”, The Japan Times, November 1, 2013, http://www.japantimes.co.jp/opinion/2013/11/01/commentary/a-chinese-version-of-responsible-protection/#.UxPrSnmo7dU.
- 17.
A major research project is the highest-level research program with the highest esteem among Chinese scholars, funded by the National Planning Office of Philosophy and Social Science of China and focusing on the essential issues facing China in its development.
- 18.
The CIIS Forum is an important platform at CIIS for the foreign ministers and senior officials of other countries to deliver speeches on their respective foreign and domestic policies, usually with a large audience, such as diplomats from the foreign embassies in Beijing, journalists, businesses, students, and experts from professional and academic circles.
- 19.
For example, there is no denying that both Peking University (Beijing) and Fudan University (Shanghai) and some other universities are prominent in China, but could they be defined and regarded as think tanks? Compared with the definition and standards used by the Global Go To Think Tank Program, the ranking presented by SASS is not so rigorous and therefore less convincing than it originally sounded to the Chinese people.
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Xu, L. (2019). Emergence of a Think Tank and a Rising Power on the World Stage: China Institute of International Studies. In: McGann, J.G. (eds) Think Tanks, Foreign Policy and the Emerging Powers. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-60312-4_10
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