Taking another identity
In addition to their work as researchers, many of these academic figures have another identity -- as legislators. According to the website of the National People's Congress (CPC), China's top legislative body, 18 of the 176 members of the NPC Standing Committee are employed by research institutes.
Cai Fang, director of the Institute of Population and Labor Economics under the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS), is one of them. He contributed his opinion on employment, population policy and social security to China's 12th Five-Year Plan (2011-15), which was passed in October 2010.
Cai also delivered a lecture on promoting rapid, high-quality economic growth to the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee in December 2010. Two years later, he presented his views on employment policy to CPC leaders at the highest level.
He was also a representative at the 17th National Congress of the CPC in 2007 and has been elected to the same role for the 18th.
"I am very proud to be a representative again. In the last five-year term, I took advantage of what I had studied. At the annual meeting, I presented suggestions on labor economics and other issues that are closely related to people's lives," said Cai, according to quotes on CASS' official website.
China's leadership is increasing its involvement with research institutes, said Tao Jian, vice-president of the China Institute of Contemporary International Relations, a major foreign-policy think tank.
"Now, the people in charge of think tanks regularly attend meetings with top decision-makers. Take foreign policymakers, for example, experts often meet diplomats face to face to discuss a specific topic. In this sense, think tanks participate directly in the decision-making process," he said.
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