The Role Of Think Tanks In Shaping The British Policy Towards China’s Belt And Road Initiative

Sino-British relations enter a golden era after President Xi Jinping undertook a State Visit to the UK in 2015.As one of the most important platforms for the UK-China cooperation in the golden era,the Belt and Road Initiative(BRI)presents both opportunities and challenges for the UK government.To maximise opportunities presented by the BRI.British policymakers and political elites increasingly depend on British foreign policy think tanks to analyse strategic,economic,and political implications of the BRI and provide policy recommendations on the British participation in the BRI.Acknowledged for their expertise and research capacity,British foreign policy think tanks have conducted comprehensive research on the BRI to provide policy recommendations for the British policymakers.Given British foreign policy think tanks’ thorough research on the BRI,how they exert their influence and shape the government’s policymaking towards the BRI remains an important area to explore.This thesis aims to reveal the influence mechanism of British foreign policy think tanks over British policymaking towards the BRI.By drawing on the research methods of case study,content analysis and process tracing,this thesis is set to explore the influence mechanism of Royal Institute of International Affairs(Chatham House),International Institute for Strategic Studies(IISS)and Royal United Service Institute(RUSI)over British policymaking towards the BRI.Chatham House,IISS and RUSI are the top three British think tanks in terms of overall research capacity.This study applies content analysis method to identify policy beliefs and policy recommendations of these think tanks on the BRI and compares these recommendations with the UK’s official response towards the BRI.The result shows that some policy recommendations provided by experts of Chatham House,IISS,and RUSI are in line with the government’s official response towards the BRI.First,the UK should take advantage of its rich experience in the financial sector,the private security sector,and the construction sector to maximise the opportunities presented by the BRI.Second,the UK should not engage with China in pure economic terms.It is of vital importance to ensure that international standards and liberal norms are maintained.Moreover,this thesis analyses Chatham House,IISS,and RUSI’s policy impact on the BRI via the media.Experts of Chatham House and RUSI published commentaries and op-eds in newspapers and accepted interviews from newspaper to deliver their ideas and expertise on the BRI and influence a wide range of audience.IISS invited the media to report Shangri-La Dialogue 2019 to increase its impact.Events held by Chatham House,IISS.and RUSI are also analysed to reveal their indirect influence on the UK’s foreign policymaking towards the BRI.This study applies the process tracing method to investigate think tanks’ experts’ participation in three parliamentary inquiries to influence the British foreign policymaking towards the BRI.From 2017 to 2019,the UK parliament has held four inquiries to discussed issues of the UK-China relations and the UK’s China policy.The BRI’s implications for the UK were discussed in each inquiry,Experts of Chatham House,IISS,and RUSI participated in three inquiries.Experts of Chatham House,IISS,and RUSI submitted written evidence to the Committec and attended the evidence session to provide oral evidence.Through submission of written evidence and participation in the evidence session,experts of British foreign think tanks can have direct contact with policymakers and deliver their policy beliefs and recommendations to influence the policymaking.The thesis reveals three indirect influence mechanisms of Chatham House.IISS.and RUSI to influence the UK’s foreign policymaking towards the BRI:conducting academic research,utilising the media,and holding events.First,all of three think tanks have published research papers,expert comments,and journal articles to deliver their policy beliefs to the public,media,and political elites.Second,experts of Chatham House and RUSI published commentaries and op-eds in newspapers and accepted interviews from newspaper.IISS invited the media to report Shangri-La Dialogue 2019.Finally,all the three think tanks held open-door events and closed-door events on the BRI.Open-door events are open to the public,which enables the spreading of the policy beliefs to the public and increases the public’s understanding of the BRI.Closed-door events are strictly invitation and provide opportunities for experts to have close contact with policymakers and influence policymaking.This thesis analyses one direct influence mechanism of think tanks:participation in parliamentary inquiries.Experts of Chatham House RUSI.and IISS submitted written evidence or attended the evidence session of parliamentary inquiries to influence the policymaking directly.Some of their evidence were taken by the parliamentary committee in the report and received the government response.