From April 25 to 26, the 2023 Seminar on Think Tank Cooperation and International Exchange of the Counsellors’ Offices and Institutes for Culture and History Nationwide was held in Wuhan. Wu Haitao, Vice Governor and member of Party Leadership Group of Hubei Provincial People’s Government, and Zhang Yantong, Vice Chairman and member of Party Group of the Counsellors’ Office of the State Council (COSC), attended and addressed the opening ceremony.

According to Wu, think tanks are an important force in promoting regional cooperation and high-quality economic and social development. General Secretary Xi Jinping attaches great importance to the development of think tanks and emphasizes that think tanks are an important part of a country’s soft power, giving important instructions on building new think tanks with Chinese characteristics and deepening the exchange and cooperation of think tanks. Hubei pays great attention to the international exchanges and cooperation of counsellors’ offices and institutes for culture and history, keeps intensifying cooperation with consulting agencies of foreign governments, and takes the initiative to build communication platforms and create favorable conditions for counsellors and researchers of culture and history.

According to Zhang, this seminar is a specific initiative of the COSC in promoting the solid progress in the thematic education focusing on the learning and implementation of Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era, and implementing the requirements of relevant policies on sustaining and improving the systems for government counsellors and researchers of culture and history in the new era and the specific measures of the Year of Team Building of Counsellors’ Offices and Institutes for Culture and History Throughout the Country. Organizing counsellors to engage in collaborative research with Chinese and foreign think tanks and strengthening cultural exchanges with other countries is the responsibility of counsellors’ offices and institutes for culture and history in the new era, as well as their characteristics and advantages. The thematic education should be carried out in depth for Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era to be applied consciously in guiding the work of counsellors’ offices and institutes for culture and history. Wisdom resources are to be integrated extensively to support the Party and governments in sound, democratic, and law-based decision-making. Counsellors’ offices and institutes for culture and history are to leverage their respective advantages and strengths in international exchanges, striving to become bridges connecting Chinese and foreign think tanks and promoting cultural exchanges and mutual learning between Chinese and foreign civilizations.

At the seminar, Yang Baoqi, Deputy Director-General of the International Communication Office of the Publicity Department of the CPC Central Committee, Li Jingwen, Deputy Director-General and Level I Bureau Rank Official of the Exchange Office of the Taiwan Work Office of the CPC Central Committee and Taiwan Affairs Office of the State Council, Xu Chunsheng, Deputy Director-General of the National Office for Philosophy and Social Sciences, Yao Shaojun, Deputy Director-General of the Department of Foreign Affairs Management of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Tu Wentao, Minister-Counsellor of the Policy Planning Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and Cui Yinglan, Level II Bureau Rank Official of the International Exchange and Cooperation Bureau of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, delivered keynote speeches on the building of new think tanks with Chinese characteristics, new international relations, international communication, and international exchanges, etc. Five representatives, respectively from the Foreign Affairs Division of the COSC, Yunnan Research Institute for Culture and History, Ningbo Research Institute of Culture and History, Counsellors’ Office of Jiujiang Municipal People’s Government, and Counsellors’ Office of Anyang Municipal People’s Government, shared their experience.

 The head of Department of the International Exchanges and Cooperation of the COSC delivered a concluding speech and presided over the seminar. Zhao Jun, Deputy Secretary General and Chairman of Counsellors’ Office of Hubei Provincial People’s Government, attended the opening ceremony. A total of more than 120 leaders and officials from the organs and departments of the COSC and the CCICH and their affiliated institutions, and 41 provincial and 27 municipal government counsellors’ offices and institutes for culture and history, attended in the seminar.