Recently, several official think tanks issued research reports on China's future development, but some were reportedly mocked.

I agree that the reports in question were a bit hollow and simplistic. For example, the argument that "China will comprehensively surpass the US" is rather vague. Each nation has its own advantages and disadvantages. Big powers are not necessarily better than small ones in some respects, and similarly, the lifestyle of one region is not always better than that of another.

However, some experts on international comparisons automatically base the development level of each country on clueless logic and standards. A nation's development cannot be deemed as promising if its top think tanks fall into such a mode of thinking. In that case, everything in society can be "patterned," and everyone copies others' targets and loses their own characteristics.

The public's doubts over official think tanks reflect several real problems in the Chinese think tank world. The basic situation of Chinese think tanks, which include governmental, non-governmental, political, and economic think tanks, is that governmental think tanks are dominant while non-governmental ones are too weak to take shape.

Likewise, the number of economic think tanks stands in sharp contrast to the few political and cultural think tanks. Whether these libraries of wisdom and ideas are wise and thoughtful is not entirely decided by their titles, capital and official ranks.

The think tank world has somehow become monopolized by government sectors and become their exclusive domain. I once tried to register the name "politics and economy observation and research center" at a local industry and commerce bureau, but was told the name was not approved because private companies are barred from researching subjects related to politics.

After 30 years of reform, China has become diversified. Different non-governmental think tanks can serve not only as spokespeople for different interest groups, but also evolve into comprehensive tanks that span industries and even rise to the level of national interests. This is the role that Chinese think tanks are going to play in future society.

As the situation changes, non-governmental think tanks are becoming indispensable to China's political and economic affairs. On the contrary, the absence of non-governmental think tanks and public opinion may lead to limits and lack of multiple perspectives, and consequently, become biased as a decision reference for the government. In the age of enlightenment of people and surge of public sentiment, the government relies on a diverse range of think tanks for information and opinions, and society is also in need of them for thoughts and suggestions.

Non-governmental think tanks are still rare in China. On the one hand, the governments are not willing to turn to private enterprises unless they urgently need it, while some foreign companies want to consult private think tanks in China. On the other hand, even though private think tanks serve the whole of society, their growth is partly hindered by lack of horizontal distribution and use of resources and a social mentality that prioritizes "official rankings," both of which were the result of a planned economy.

Nowadays, China has competed with the outside world more in the field of knowledge, wisdom and technology. If China blindly develops the processing industry and primary, secondary industries, narrowly pursues GDP by industry, and neglects the cultivation of knowledge and intelligence industries as it did three decades ago, it can only position itself as a primary industry producer.

China's governmental think tanks have inadequate resources, while social resources are not made full use of. Under these circumstances, both government and civil society should perform their duty. If government sectors open their arms and communicate with non-governmental think tanks, solutions could be found to many thorny issues in the process of reform.

The author is director of Beijing Dajun Think Tank Economic Consulting Company. opinion@globaltimes.com.cn