Chinese think tank keeps distance from damning Taiwan corruption report

China's leading public policy research institution has denied involvement in a recent study that pointed to rampant corruption in Taiwan.

The Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS) was responding to earlier media reports that the Berlin-based corruption watchdog Transparency International had tasked a subsidiary of CASS to conduct a public opinion poll on corruption in Taiwan.

"This information is mistaken," the instution said in a statement on Sunday, adding that the research firm cited in the report, Cass Research Centre (CRC), was not its subsidiary. CRC was named in Transparency International's report as the survey company for Taiwan. 

A man reached at the CRC office in Beijing, who declined to be identified, said on Friday that the company had been charged to do a survey on corruption in Taiwan by an intermediary for Transparency International.

He declined to elaborate on the company's ties to CASS, the mainland think tank. On its website, the company, which goes by World Public Opinion Research Company, does not identify itself as a CASS subsidiary. 

Subsequent phone calls and e-mailed requests for comment from CRC went unanswered. The company's website has since been taken down from the internet.