China Has Think Tank Quantity, but Not Quality

The University of Pennsylvania's Think Tanks and Civil Societies Program recently published an index that listed 6,681 significant think tanks around the world. The United States had the most with 1,830, China was second with 429 and Britain finished third with 287.

This appears to be something worth celebrating. After all, it was only after 2010 that the various research institutions in China started calling themselves think tanks. But this ranking does not mean the country's think tanks are among the world's best.