A Pro-China Think Tank Operating in Washington—Should We Be Concerned?
Commentary
Think tanks are like bacteria; they’re everywhere. The United States, home to the largest number of think tanks in the world, has 1,984 of them. Of course, not all think tanks are created equally; some are better than others. But every single think tank is designed to promote a very specific set of values or ideas. This begs the question: Why is there a pro-China think tank operating in Washington?
Of the nearly 2,000 think tanks in the United States, 400 are based in Washington. One of them happens to be the Institute for China-America Studies (ICAS). The supposedly independent institute receives most of its funding from the Hainan Freeport Research Foundation in China. The purpose of this specific foundation, we’re told, “is to commit to the scientific development of the South China Sea resources, build national and local governments in the South China Sea,” and inform “media, NGO, conflict prevention, and resolution mechanisms.”…