Rise of new influence groups in China: think tank
Forces outside China's traditional power bases are increasingly shaping the country's foreign policy, pushing for more international participation, the SIPRI think tank said in a report today.
"These are still groups on the margins. But it is significant that the top leadership now has to take into account diverse views," the Swedish institute's China programme director Linda Jakobson told AFP in Helsinki, where the report was launched.
New pressure groups like state-owned and even some large privately-owned enterprises, local governments, expert advisors, as well as public input via media and online communities are all being heard to some extent in the inner sanctum of the Communist Party, the report said.
Jakobson noted that Chinese policy creation is still shrouded in secrecy, so it is extremely difficult to gauge how much pressure these new groups are able to put on the traditional power bulwarks of the Communist Party, the State Council and the People's Liberation Army.
Nonetheless, this development points to the fact that China's ruling party is no longer a monolithic entity, but one being pulled in different directions, the report said. These rising pressure groups are able to make an impact not only through traditional channels such as personal networks, but increasingly by writing newspaper columns, blogs, making public speeches and even through television debates.
Jakobson said these channels are no longer entirely closed off to the public, and that China is transforming into a country where a degree of pluralism and public debate is possible.
