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Since 2010, American (and other foreign) researchers have encountered a
progressively more restrictive research environment in China. One American scholar
noted that a previous research project that involved on-the-ground interviews
across many provinces was no longer possible. The registration and information
requirements of the 2017 Law on the Management of Foreign NGOs is part of the
problem, she believes, by severely constraining opportunities to conduct joint
projects and research in China. It has also become exceedingly difficult to arrange
interviews with Chinese think-tank scholars and government officials; many
institutional libraries are now off-limits; central-level archives are inaccessible
with provincial and local ones also increasingly circumscribed; survey research is
impossible (unless in partnership with an approved Chinese counterpart, which is
increasingly hard to find); and other bureaucratic impediments make it increasingly
difficult for foreign think-tank researchers to undertake their basic jobs of
researching China. At the same time, Chinese researchers working in the US are able
to schedule appointments easily with their American counterparts and government
officials, enjoy open access to American libraries and government archives, are able
to conduct surveys anywhere, and may travel freely around the United States to do
field work.

US Think-Tank Centers in China

Only two American think tanks operate real satellite centers in Beijing, and one does
so in Hong Kong. Both Beijing centers are cohosted by, and located on, the campus
of Tsinghua University. One has a robust program of research by Chinese fellows,
brings in people from the think tank’s other centers, has a young ambassador program
for Americans and Chinese, and boasts a “wide open internet.” One center uses its
facilities primarily for presentations from the resident fellows and other visitors. Some
talks are open to the public, but most are restricted to faculty and graduate students.
The center’s ambitions were originally greater: for example, to host a set of annual
conferences with senior experts and officials on both sides. However, the Chinese side
could not live up to its side of the bargain, demanding that senior US officials attend
while not delivering Chinese officials of equivalent rank.

These two centers have also become caught up within the increasingly strained
US-China relationship as well as the tightening political atmosphere inside China.
According to one affiliated research fellow, “connections with the center are a liability
because institutions and people can cause you problems if you don’t say the right
things.” At least one of the centers in Greater China has occasionally limited its public
programming from addressing sensitive political issues, because it did not want to
jeopardize the institution’s presence in China and Asia. Yet that think tank’s other
staffers and fellows have also proved adept at circumventing political restrictions by,

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