Several scholars have advocated that Chinese think tanks should have the ambition to influence the White House

Source: China Net

On November 1, the report "Global Ambition: Opportunities and Challenges for China to Promote the Reform of the International Discourse System" sponsored by the Chongyang Institute of Finance of Chinese University and hosted by the Center for Global Governance of Chinese Min University was held online.

Yu Yunquan, Dean of the Institute of Contemporary China and the World, Shi Anbin, Vice Dean of the School of Journalism and Communication of Tsinghua University, Yang Xinhua, Deputy Editor-in-Chief of the China Internet News Center, Li Guoqiang, Researcher of the Development Research Center of the State Council, and Ding Gang, Senior Advisor of the Global Times, were invited to attend the meeting.

At the meeting, Wang Wen, Executive Director of Chongyang of the National People's Congress, released a report entitled "Global Ambition: Opportunities and Challenges for China to Promote the Reform of the International Discourse System". The participants had an in-depth discussion on the views put forward in the report that "Chinese think tanks should have ambitions to influence the White House" and "strive to promote the reform of international discourse power". The collection of relevant views on the scene is as follows:

Wang Wen (Executive President of Chongyang of the National People's Congress): China is solving the problem of "being beaten" and "starving" after solving the problem of "being beaten", and the core of the problem of "being scolded" is how to solve the problem of discourse power. The release of this report aims to promote the reform of discourse power and the construction of the international influence of think tanks. Chinese think tanks in the new era should have the consciousness of daring and being good at international struggle; they should have the ambition to deconstruct the Western discourse system; they should have the wisdom to promote the innovation of international communication concepts; and they should have the ability to operate and allocate resources across borders. The dispute between Chinese and Western discourse is about to enter a decisive period, and the current Chinese discourse power has risen, mainly reflected in three aspects. From the perspective of original discourse, Chinese discourse, such as "Belt and Road", "community of human destiny", "precision poverty alleviation" and other words are increasingly accepted by the world. From the perspective of practical attraction, China's poverty alleviation, public security, anti-corruption, ecology, order, infrastructure, online shopping, takeaway, etc. have all achieved great success and universal praise in the world. From the perspective of struggle and deterrence, we have introduced a series of bills in the past year to oppose the long-arm jurisdiction of the United States, which has also enhanced the majesty of the Chinese state and the concept of governing the country according to law. Reshaping the global discourse requires countless "Chosin Lake Battles." China's state media, think tanks, and scholars all need to regain the arrogance and ambition of "less steel and more gas" to break the hegemony of Western discourse of "more steel and less gas". Chinese scholars should have the ambition and ambition to influence the White House, the Kremlin, the Elysee, and 10 Downing Street. Therefore, China's intellectual circles, think tank circles, and media circles should aim high, think about their own tasks and missions in the new era from the height of the global great power game, and ultimately help the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation.

Yu Yunquan (President of the Institute of Contemporary China and the World): China in the new era is approaching the goal of realizing the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation as never before, and it is becoming more and more urgent to "form an international discourse power that matches China's comprehensive national strength and international status." World historical experience shows that the influence of international discourse and the ability of national narrative are an important part of the international competitiveness of big countries and the proper meaning of the ambitions of big countries. There are also common paths in the construction of international discourse among major powers. The first is to occupy the moral high ground, carry forward the common values of all mankind, and push the wheel of history to move in a bright direction. The second is to respond to the major concerns of the times. The core discourse, basic concepts, and important concepts put forward should be helpful in solving some of the current major problems in human society. Third, there must be a basis for practice. The concepts, discourses and programs proposed are supported by actions and can be tested through practice. China's core discourses on jointly building the Belt and Road Initiative and building a community with a shared future for mankind have strongly embodied these principles and have been highly recognized by the international community. Therefore, occupying the moral high ground, solving major practical problems, adhering to the principles of deeds being better than words and being consistent between words and deeds, has important methodological value for the construction of Chinese discourse and Chinese narrative, and to enhance the international influence of Chinese discourse. China has a large number of similar cases in fighting the epidemic, poverty control, and climate change that can be studied in depth. In the historical process of discourse power construction, think tanks can play a unique role. Think tanks are important suppliers of ideas and products and action plans, and through the release of reports, cooperative research, seminars and exchanges, they are conducive to the creation and dissemination of new concepts, new categories and new expressions.

Shi Anbin (Vice Dean of school of journalism and communication of Tsinghua University): How should China's global communication be carried out at present to achieve the goal of building a global discourse power? ACGT is the "base" that determines biodiversity, and from this perspective, we can talk about how to make the more inclusive image of "global China" accepted and understood by the international community. First of all, a is the concept of convergence, the first goal of global communication is to make an organic connection between the East and the West, the traditional and the modern, the Chinese and the West, the global South and the North, the so-called communication gap, the information gap, the knowledge gap, and the digital divide formed in history. Second, c stands for common good, which in English has two meanings, one is public good, and the other is the moral level of "common good". This further leads to the pursuit of the second goal of global communication development, that is, how communication technology can achieve the two-layered meaning of common good. Facing the future, this will be a unique contribution of China's communication model to global governance in the post-COVID-19 era. In addition, g represents global influence, the expansion of China's global communication influence is achieved through the development of an inclusive globalization process, the core of the new globalization or inclusive globalization advocated by the "Belt and Road" advocated by China is global interconnection, the confrontation between China and the United States is not a process of confrontation, not Chinese-style globalization to replace American-style globalization, our inclusive globalization is to truly achieve a global connection, which is the direction that China must show to the world in the construction of discourse power. To borrow from President Wang Wen's global ambition, it is an ambition to make the world truly interconnected. Finally, t means to provide technical support for global governance cooperation and the construction of a new order of information dissemination through technology sharing from platform to standard.

Yang Xinhua (Deputy Editor-in-Chief of China Internet News Center): A fundamental issue in the capacity building of international communication is the construction of the discourse system, which is the only way to solve the problem of "being scolded". Since entering the new era, China's discourse system and discourse power have entered a period of "one long and the other", but due to multiple factors such as the new crown epidemic, the continuous improvement of China's national image has been impacted. Building a multi-subject, three-dimensional pattern of external propaganda, including mobilizing the "million army" of Chinese social sciences to participate in external propaganda, is a major improvement in our cognition, which shows that we truly realize that international communication is of great importance, and truly grasp international communication as a major event, and as a national strategy to plan, coordinate and promote. Reshaping the global discourse, the NPC Chongyang report proposes a very important goal innovation, that is, to influence Western leaders and policymakers, to influence the most influential people. Starting from this "ambition", I put forward three suggestions: first, actively participate in the production of Chinese discourse from the perspective of supply and demand, increase quantity and improve quality, and actively participate in defining and interpreting Chinese discourse, and promote Chinese discourse to move in the direction of popularization, internationalization and systematization; second, fully use and optimize Chinese discourse from the perspective of accurate communication, widely use it in various scenarios of international communication, give discourse more powerful vitality through practical testing, and let Chinese discourse take root in differentiated communication The third is to adjust the international communication evaluation system from the perspective of influence, just as foreign media and think tanks have profoundly affected our understanding of the world, and we must also have the ambition to become the head media and head think tanks that leaders of Western countries and major powers must attend every day, improve the visibility and readability of Chinese discourse, and shape the international community's view of China.

Li Guoqiang (Researcher, Development Research Center of the State Council): Building an international discourse power is a major proposition in the great historical process of China's rise. We must understand this problem from many aspects, first of all, we must clearly understand the importance and significance of this problem and the urgency, and we must clearly understand the arduousness and struggle of this problem. To build China's discourse system, there are the following four aspects, one is that China must have international discourse power to become strong; the second is that China's rise must be qualified to demand international discourse; third, competing for international discourse power is a very realistic and urgent and important work; fourth, Chinese think tanks should strengthen international discourse power as a conscious action. Emphasize strengthening the construction of communication channels for Chinese think tanks and enhancing the communication effect of think tanks. At the same time, we must emphasize how the results of think tanks can be disseminated quickly, the intensity of influence, how to spread out with high quality, and how to form a re-dissemination chain response that transcends existing communication channels, smooth, fast and diverse. These issues need to be studied in depth. Think tank communication has its own laws, especially in the information society, we must conduct multi-dimensional in-depth research on the content, form, channel and effect of communication, and adopt a scientific approach to solve the problem of high efficiency of communication tools.

Ding Gang (Senior Advisor of Global Times): A very important point in the construction of think tanks is theoretical construction. Theoretical construction requires theoretical breakthroughs, innovations and constructions. Think tank in English is think tank - thought tank, its ideas are like tanks with impact, impact must have a theoretical basis, the more solid the theory, the stronger the impact. Now we must strive to advance toward the goal of breaking through the existing Western theories, and in some theoretical aspects, we can intersect, parallel, and supplement with Western theories to achieve innovative goals and be more widely accepted. Not only to break, but also to create, to break the word, standing is also among them. To a large extent, the question of understanding China and whether we can fully understand the rise of China is a question of whether we can have a more accurate theoretical system. This theoretical system must be based on the in-depth study of China's historical experience, traditional culture and development experience, only on the basis of comprehensive understanding can we make a more accurate prediction of the future direction of Sino-US relations and major country relations, rather than falling into the trap of Western concept theory again and again, and only then will we make correct policy choices, which is a rather difficult task, which will be a huge challenge to the intellectual circles of the West and China, and the construction of Think Tanks in China's future. It is also a huge challenge for Chinese think tanks to promote the great cause of changing the international discourse system.