Q&A about CCG & Dr. Henry Wang Huiyao

November 02 , 2022

Recently, the Center for China and Globalization (CCG) has been misreported or misunderstood in certain foreign media reports. Below are a few clarifications to facilitate an accurate understanding.

Why is CCG a “non-governmental” thinktank?

The Center for China and Globalization (CCG) is a “non-governmental” thinktank and it is NOT an organ of the Communist Party of China (CPC) or the Chinese state. To use the term commonly used in the Chinese mainland, it is a 社会智库, mechanically translated as a “thinktank in the society,” referring to a thinktank outside the CPC and Chinese state apparatus.

Financially, CCG relies on corporate donations and research grants for funding, and also generates revenue from publications, event sponsorship, providing research services etc., in line with international practice. The biggest donors to CCG are the Chinese private sector companies  and multinational corporations. The CPC and the Chinese state do NOT have a budget for CCG.

CCG’s funding sources are annually disclosed to its advisory council meeting.

In a mid-2022 interview, CCG explains the bridge roles and the nature of CCG.

Researchfeatures: Thought Leader Henry Huiyao Wang

From the perspective of personnel, CCG’s founders and employees are not employees of the CPC or Chinese state organs. For example, CPC and Chinese state employees all have their respective 编制 (bianzhi, or the authorized headcount of personnel within the state system.) CCG personnel do not.

In another example, all CPC and Chinese state employees are categorized into a 级别 (jibie, or official ranking) system, where each and every one of them has a jibie. CCG personnel do not.

In yet another example,  CCG personnel pay their pension and medical care insurance contributions to the scheme shared by the private sector in the city of Beijing.

Who recognizes CCG as a “non-governmental” thinktank?

CCG has been granted  the “Special Consultative Status” as a non-governmental organization (NGO) by the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC).

The widely-cited 2020 Global Go To Think Tank Index Report, produced by the The Think Tanks and Civil Societies Program (TTCSP) of the Lauder Institute at the University of Pennsylvania, lists CCG as one of the 50 top “2020 Best Independent Think Tanks” on Page 332 . (The 2020 report is the latest edition available so far.)

CCG has also been frequently described by the international media outlets as a non-government thinktank, such as in Financial Times, NBC News , Bloomberg.

Does CCG frequently meet Chinese and foreign government officials, including diplomats?

 

Yes.

In line with other influential thinktanks globally, CCG is routinely involved in Track 1.5 and Track 2 diplomacy – a testament to the recognition, respect, and regard that governments and thinktanks place on CCG.

CCG routinely hosts foreign officials and thinktankers in Beijing. CCG is routinely invited to events hosted by them in Beijing. CCG also frequently meets them outside China. CCG is also frequently involved in conversations and virtual meetings – both public and private – with them.

CCG is in fact one of the most valued ports of call outside Chinese state organs for Beijing’s diplomatic community. For example, at the time of writing this Q&A in the end of October, CCG hosted three in-person groups of diplomats from three G7 countries at its Beijing headquarters. Many of the meetings are publicly disclosed on CCG’s social media channels, especially its WeChat blog and Twitters.

CCG enjoys robust working relations with government officials – including diplomats – and thinktankers, including those who are or used to be in senior government positions.

CCG, in good faith, promotes closer interactions between China and the rest of the world through international, professional, and productive collaborations, despite the rising geopolitical tensions. Numerous diplomats, thinktankers, and China correspondents have developed and maintained good working relations with CCG and Henry personally – not because they are naive.

 

Who created CCG?

 

Two individual human beings – Dr. Henry Wang Huiyao and Dr. Mable Miao Lu.

 

Was CCG an activity of the Western Returned Scholars Association (WRSA)?

 

No.

CCG is aware of certain rearch report and press articles that says it is “one of the WRSA’s most successful activities”. That is NOT true. To the best of our knowledge, before their publication, the authors did not invite CCG for comments or reach out to CCG for clarifications.

CCG was NOT and is NOT an activity of the WRSA. CCG’s founding was an activity of two individual human beings – Dr. Henry Wang Huiyao and Dr. Mable Miao Lu. WRSA did NOT and do NOT create, lead, or oversee CCG or its personnel. Nor did it or does it finance CCG.

The same is true with other Chinese entities and organizations which CCG has been portrayed – incorrectly – as an organ of the CPC “United Front Work Department”.

 

How did some wrongly conclude CCG as an activity of the Western Returned Scholars Association?

 

Dr. Henry Wang Huiyao joined the Western Returned Scholars Association (WRSA), the largest platform established by Chinese overseas returnees. Later, he proposed setting up the WRSA Chamber of Commerce and was nominated as the founding president. In his opinion, a sound society should be jointly supported by the government, enterprises, and organizations, which are all deeply interconnected. Entrepreneurs are not just the heads of their companies but also a driving force for social development

For some time, Dr. Wang was in the 理事会 Council of the WRSA, as were dozens of Chinese elites. His role in the Council is similar to his many other roles in other Councils or Advisory Boards in Chinese and foreign organizations. He was NOT an employee of the WRSA and did NOT work there.

CCG and WRSA are two organizations and CCG does not have the authority to accurately explain the role or functions of the WRSA, but to the best of our knowledge, the employees of WRSA work in its 工作机构  working organization composed of seven departments.http://www.wrsa.net/content_39103474.htm

The WRSA publishes the names of people in its Council. As shown in the current 8th Council info , Dr. Wang’s name is no longer in it.

 

Who is Dr. Henry Wang Huiyao?

 

Dr.Wang was born in 1958 in Chengdu, capital of the vast, mountain-ringed province of Sichuan in western China.

After two years of high school, at the age of 17, he was, like many people his age from urban areas across China,  sent to live in a village as part of the “down to the countryside” movement. He lived in a thatched hut next to a pigsty in a village 30 km from Chengdu, spending almost a year and a half as a farm laborer.

China re-instituted the Gaokao college entrance examination in late 1977. He passed that year’s test and was enrolled in the English and American Literature Department of the Guangzhou Foreign Language Institute in 1978, the year of China’s Reform and Opening-up.

When he finished college in early 1980s,  jobs were still mandatorily assigned to fresh graduates by the government. He joined the Ministry of Foreign Trade and Economic Cooperation (MOFTEC), now known as the Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM).

After three years, he left MOFTEC and was admitted to an MBA program Canada, and later pursued his Ph.D. studies in Business Administration in the University of Western Ontario and the University of Manchester in the United Kingdom.

He then went on to serve in multinational corporations, such as Director for Asia at SNC-Lavalin and Vice President at AMEC-Agra. In the 1990s, Dr. Wang was invited to become the Chief Trade Counselor of the Quebec Government Office in Hong Kong and Greater China. In that role, he worked to promote economic cooperation between Quebec and China in areas such as hydroelectricity and telecommunications.

Before setting up with his wife Dr.Mable Miao Lu the Center for China and Globalization in 2008, Dr. Wang was also a part-time professor at the Guanghua School of Management of Peking University for three years.

In June 2022, Stephen Sackur on BBC’s HARDtalk described Dr. Wang as a “a member of China’s political elite both familiar with and comfortable in the world of Western thinktanks, media debate, and policy discussion…He is seen as an advocate of an open and outward-facing China embracing multilateral and global cooperation.” https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/w3ct32fz

As The Economist reported in October 2022 Why america and europe fret about china turning inwards

Wang Huiyao runs the Centre for China and Globalisation, a think-tank that champions cptpp entry. He is close to the Chinese officials who negotiated wto accession a generation ago. China’s economy has grown many times over since then, notes Mr Wang, who is something of a go-between for technocratic government ministries, Chinese entrepreneurs and foreign embassies in Beijing. “China is probably the largest beneficiary of the system of globalisation designed by the us and Western countries,” he acknowledges.

For more details, please refer to Dr. Wang’s own writing

https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007/978-981-16-9253-6_12.pdf

Over the years, CCG has been engaged in public conversations with thought leaders across the world. You are welcome to check out http://en.ccg.org.cn/archives/78128 some of them. CCG also regularly collaborates with influential authors in publishing. Here are some of our latest books:

http://en.ccg.org.cn/archives/73544

http://en.ccg.org.cn/archives/77015

Keyword