V. Development of Rule of Law and the Institutions of Democratic Governance

V(a) THE DEVELOPMENT OF CIVIL SOCIETY

Civil Society Activism and Government Controls | 2005: Central Government Effort to Curtail Civil Society

FINDINGS

• Chinese non-profit associations and organizations are growing in number and engaging in valuable educational work and issue advocacy. While some ministries and local governments support these groups, some high-level leaders consider the emergence of an independent civil society a threat to government and party control.
• Central authorities use regulations to limit and control the development of civil society in China, forcing many groups to remain unregistered or operate underground. In 2005, Chinese authorities moved to curtail the activities of international and domestic civil society organizations, particularly environmental groups that challenged government policies.

Civil Society Activism and Government Controls

Chinese civil society organizations are growing in number and engaging in valuable educational work, social welfare service provision, and issue advocacy.¹ These groups include national mass organizations that Party authorities created and fund, smaller citizen associations registered under national regulations, and loose networks of unregistered grassroots organizations.² Civil society organizations have been particularly active in environmental protection and HIV/AIDS work, issues on which the Chinese government has been more tolerant of nongovernmental activity in recent years.³ For example, civil society groups operate orphanages for the children of AIDS victims, run Web sites disseminating information on AIDS to at-risk groups, and advocate on behalf of HIV-positive individuals.⁴

A restrictive regulatory environment continues to hamper the development of Chinese civil society. National regulations require that non-governmental organizations have a government-approved "sponsor organization" to register.⁵ Official Chinese sources indicate that only designated Party and government bureaus and mass organizations may sponsor non-governmental organizations.⁶ Chinese scholars and prominent Chinese civil society organizations have criticized this requirement.⁷ As the director of the Qinghua University NGO research institute noted, "China has 3 million social organizations, but only 280,000 are registered. Why? Because the sponsor requirement is too strict, most social organizations can't find sponsors."⁸ As a result, many citizen groups ignore the registration requirements. According to one academic survey, only 22 percent of organizations to which rural residents belong are formally registered.⁹ In practice, unregistered groups generally experience little or no government interference as long as they avoid financial misdeeds or overt political challenges.¹⁰ Chinese citizens, however, cite difficulties in registering as a significant obstacle to establishing even relatively nonpolitical, civic-minded organizations, such as those directed at helping Beijing prepare for the 2008 Olympics.¹¹

Central authorities have long tried to keep civil society organizations under tight official control, but some Chinese officials support reducing restrictions and allowing them to play a more active social and political role. Both the Ministry of Civil Affairs (MOCA) and the State Environmental Protection Agency have been particularly supportive of civil society organizations.¹² MOCA officials have suggested publicly that the sponsorship requirement should be eliminated and have submitted multiple draft civil society regulations to the State Council that would remove it. The State Council, however, has rejected these proposals.¹³ Chinese news reports suggest that upcoming revisions to the 1998 regulations on social organizations will liberalize current rules somewhat, but will not change the sponsor organization requirement.¹⁴

National and local authorities also sometimes disagree on how to manage civil society organizations. In 2004, Zhejiang provincial authorities passed a relatively liberal set of rules governing the operation of farmers' cooperatives. These rules do not require cooperatives to have a sponsor organization to register.¹⁵ The Zhejiang rules appear to conflict with national guidelines that require local government bureaus to sponsor farmers' cooperatives and call for a greater degree of official supervision over the cooperatives.¹⁶ Whether local experiments such as Zhejiang province's will be successful when they conflict with national policies is unclear, as other local efforts to liberalize registration requirements for farmers' cooperatives have run into problems with banks and tax bureaus because of their ambiguous status.¹⁷

Individual civil society organizations and activists risk official retaliation when they directly challenge government decisions. In March, Chinese authorities ordered the Beijing AIDS Institute of Health Education, a registered non-governmental organization, to eliminate the terms "Health Education" and "AIDS" from its name or be closed. Institute sources voiced concern that this order would affect the group's financial operations and limit its AIDS prevention efforts. Although officials asserted that the terms violated NGO naming rules, they issued the order a week after the Institute released a report alleging that government plans for using international AIDS funds lacked adequate public participation and representative patient sampling.¹⁸ Similarly, local authorities in Henan province detained and arrested AIDS activists who criticized local government actions and attempted to contact higher-level government authorities.¹⁹

Structural problems also affect Chinese civil society groups. Many remain dependent on foreign funding, which can amount to over 90 percent of the budget of some organizations.²⁰ China's civil society organizations are tax-exempt in theory, but the absence of implementing regulations hinders their ability to raise funds.²¹ Local government agencies also seeking to raise money sometimes compete with revenue-generating civil society organizations for the same sources of funding.²² Chinese civil society groups generally have a weak capacity for self-governance.²³

2005: Central Government Effort to Curtail Civil Society

In early 2005, senior Chinese leaders mounted a wide effort to curtail activist civil society organizations. Articles in academic journals linked to the State Council pressed officials to prevent "Western countries from carrying out infiltration and sabotage of China through political NGOs."²⁴ International NGOs with U.S. ties have experienced more government interference in recent months.²⁵ Editorials in the state-sponsored press stressed the need for civil society organizations to carry out Party policies and ideology.²⁶ Central authorities ordered certain social science research groups that had attempted to operate outside of regular controls by registering as for-profit companies to reregister with MOCA or be closed.²⁷

In April 2005, top Chinese leaders established the All-China Environment Federation (ACEF), a state-run alliance of civil society organizations controlled by current and former government officials. Official reports indicate that the ACEF is aimed at ensuring better cooperation between ministries on environmental issues and offering regular channels for Chinese civil society organizations to provide policy input.²⁸ Nevertheless, the ACEF resembles traditional mass organizations, such as the All-China Women's Federation or the All-China Federation of Trade Unions, that Chinese leaders use to co-opt and regulate social groups that might challenge Party control. Chinese environmental activists state that the government has pressured them to join the ACEF and pay mandatory dues. They also state that many regard the move as an attempt to restrict the growing activism of environmental organizations.²⁹

Notes to Section V(a)—The Development of Civil Society

1 According to Ministry of Civil Affairs (MOCA) statistics, the number of registered social organizations have risen from 130,000 in 2002 (3.1 percent growth from the prior year), to 142,000 in 2003 (6.8 percent), to 153,000 in 2004 (7.7 percent). Registered non-governmental, non-commercial enterprises (NGNCEs) have increased from 111,000 in 2002, to 124,000 in 2003, to 135,000 in 2004. "Ministry of Civil Affairs Releases 2004 Statistical Report on the Development of Civil Affairs Work" [Minzheng bu gongbu 2004 nian minzheng shiye fazhan tongji baogao], Xinhua (Online), 11 May 05. These statistics understate the actual numbers of Chinese civil society organizations, as many operate without official registration. Regarding the work of environmental NGOs, see Elizabeth Economy, The River Runs Black (Cornell: Cornell University Press, 2004), 130–9.

2 Environmental NGOs in China: Encouraging Action and Addressing Public Grievances, Staff Roundtable of the Congressional-Executive Commission on China, 7 February 05, Written Statement submitted by Elizabeth Economy, C.V. Starr Senior Fellow and Director of Asia Studies, Council on Foreign Relations. Rural Chinese organizations range from formally registered rural cooperative organizations that seek to protect the economic rights of local farmers or provide social services to independent (and often underground) "burden reduction committees" that vigorously challenge local tax policies. Wang Ximing, "The Current State of Organizational Construction Among Chinese Farmers: Analytic Report of House-to-House Survey Regarding the Organizational Construction of Chinese Farmers" [Zhongguo nongmin zuzhi jianshe de xianzhuang: zhongguo nongmin zuzhi jianshe ruhu diaocha wenjuan fenxi baogao], 519 China (Hainan) Research Institute of Reform and Development Bulletin (Online), 22 October 04; Yu Jianrong, "Organized Resistance of Farmers and Its Political Risks: An Investigation of H County in Hunan Province" [Nongmin you zuzhi kangzheng ji qi zhengzhi fengxian: hunan sheng H xian diaocha], Strategy and Management, No. 3, 2003.

3 Human Rights Watch, Restrictions on AIDS Activists in China, June 2005, 1.

4 Ibid., 1, 3, 31–6, 40; Roundtable on HIV/AIDS, Staff Roundtable of the Congressional-Executive Commission on China, 9 September 02, Written Statement submitted by Dr. Bates Gill, Freeman Chair in China Studies, Center for Strategic and International Studies.

5 National regulations allow for ordinary citizens to organize and apply to MOCA for registration of foundations (jijinhui), social organizations (shehui tuanti) (SOs), and NGNCEs. SOs are voluntary associations such as academic or professional groups, while NGNCEs are nongovernmental service providers such as schools, hospitals, sports organizations, or employment service organizations. To Serve the People, NGOs and the Development of Civil Society in China, Staff Roundtable of the Congressional-Executive Commission on China, 23 March 03, Written Statement submitted by Qiusha Ma, Assistant Professor, East Asian Studies, Oberlin College, Research Associate, the Mandel Center for Nonprofit Organizations, Case Western Reserve University. Existing SO and NGNCE regulations were issued in 1998, while regulations governing foundations were issued in 2004. All require approval of a sponsor organization in order to register. Sponsors provide "guidance" for the civil society organizations they supervise and participate in their annual review. See, e.g., Regulations on the Registration and Management of Social Organizations [Shehui tuanti dengji guanli tiaoli], issued 25 September 98, arts. 9 and 28.

6 The 2004 annual MOCA review of approved national social organizations lists their corresponding sponsor organizations and illustrates the Party/government links with Chinese civil society organizations. "Report on the 2004 Annual Review of National Social Organizations"[2004 niandu quanguoxing shehui tuanti nianjian jieguo gonggao], MOCA Web site, 16 May 04.

7 Yu Nan, "Three Big Research Centers Propose Legislation on Social Organization Management, The Spring of Grassroots NGOs Is Approaching" [San da zhiku jianyan shetuan guanli lifa, caogen NGO de chuntian lailin], 21st Century Business Herald (Online), 29 November 04; Katrin Fiedler, "New Regulations for the Management of Foundations," Amity Foundation Newsletter (Online), January–March 2005.

8 Zhao Ling and Dong Shuhua, "New Regulations on Social Organizations to be Issued This Year: Civil Society Organizations to Receive Appropriate Encouragement" [Xin shetuan tiaolinian nei chutai: minjian zuzhi jiang huo shidu guli], Southern Weekend (Online), 18 May 05.

9 Wang Ximing, "The Current State of Organizational Construction Among Chinese Farmers."

10 One survey of 22 Chinese NGOs revealed five unregistered ones which "conducted their activities openly without experiencing any explicit control exerted by any government agencies. "In contrast, the same study found that "supervisory organizations of GONGOs [quasi NGO-organizations directly organized by state actors] . . . not only supervised the operations of these [GONGOs], but indeed exerted financial and/or personnel control over those [GONGOs]." Environmental NGOs in China: Encouraging Action and Addressing Public Grievances, Written Statement submitted by Jiang Ru, Ph.D. in Environmental Management and Planning, Stanford University.

11 Shi Jiangtao, "Tough Rules for NGOs May Impede Volunteer Scheme," South China Morning Post (Online), 7 June 05.

12 Environmental NGOs in China: Encouraging Action and Addressing Public Grievances, Written Statement submitted by Elizabeth Economy; Ma Li, "Hearing on Yuanming Garden to Convene This Morning, 73 People Approved to Attend" [Yuanmingyuan tingzhenghui jinri shangwu zhaokai 73 ren huozhun canjia], People's Daily (Online), 13 April 05.

13 Guo Xiaojun, "Possibility that NGO Registration Will Not Need Sponsoring Unit" [NGO zhuce youwang wuxu zhuguan danwei], Beijing News (Online), 18 October 2004; "Who is Stopping China's Wealthy From Becoming Philanthropists? " [Shei zuaile zhongguo furen chengwei cishan jia?], 21st Century Business Herald (Online), 1 March 04.

14 According to Chinese news reports, specific changes in the MOCA drafts under consideration by the State Council include: (1) reducing the amount of registered capital required; (2) eliminating examination procedures; and (3) removing the restriction on having more than one NGO of the same type (e.g., bird watching association) in the same administrative region. The new regulations would apply to foreign NGOs as well. They also require local governments to give unspecified policy "assistance" to NGOs. Zhao Ling and Dong Shuhua, "New Regulations on Social Organizations to Come Out Within the Year: Civil Society Organizations to Receive Appropriate Encouragement." Many of these elements broadly resemble those found in the national foundation regulations passed in 2004. CECC, 2004 Annual Report, 73–4; Carl Minzner, "New Chinese Regulations on Foundations," 2 International Journal of Civil Society Law 110 (April 2004). The fact that the 2004 foundation regulations explicitly apply the sponsor organization requirement to representative offices of foreign foundations that seek to register in China suggests that future revisions to the national SO and NGNCE regulations may do so also.

15 Guan Zhehui and Li Xiaopeng, " 'Zhejiang Provincial Regulations on Professional Farmers' Cooperatives' Issued" ["Zhejiang sheng nongmin zhuanye hezuoshe tiaoli" chutai], China Court Web site, 12 November 04; "Farmers' Cooperatives Receive Legal Person Status For the First Time" [Nongmin hezuo zuzhi shou huo faren shenfen], Beijing News (Online), 10 May 05. The Zhejiang regulations require agricultural officials at the county level and higher to guide(zhidao), coordinate (xietiao), and provide services (fuwu gongzuo) to the farmers' associations, but do not vest them with supervisory authority and do not require them to serve as a sponsor organization. Zhejiang Provincial Regulations on Professional Farmers' Cooperatives [Zhejiang sheng nongmin zhuanye hezuoshe tiaoli], issued 11 November 04, art. 5. The regulations charge the State Administration of Industry and Commerce with reviewing and approving applications to establish farmers associations. Ibid., art. 10. However, ongoing organizational supervision is vested in a board selected and run by association members. Ibid., arts. 14–17.

16 MOCA Notice Regarding the Issuance of "Guiding Opinion Regarding Strengthening the Cultivation and Development and Managing the Registration Work of Rural Professional Economic Associations" [Guanyu yifa "guanyu jiaqiang nongcun zhuanye jingji xiehui peiyu fazhan he dengji guanli gongzuo de zhidao yijian" de tongzhi], issued 29 October 03, art. 2.

17 Fan Lixiang, "Zhejiang Raises the Question: Correcting the Misunderstanding about Agricultural Cooperatives" [Zhejiang poti: wei nongye hezuoshe zhengshen], 21st Century Business Herald (Online), 21 October 04.

18 Vivien Cui, "AIDS Group Told To Change Name or Close," South China Morning Post, 24 March 05 (FBIS, 24 March 05); "Beijing AIDS Institute of Health Education Receives Permission to Change Name to 'Beijing Zhiaixing Information and Counseling Center' " [Beijing aizhixing jiankang jiaoyu yanjiusuo mingcheng huozhun biangeng wei "Beijing zhiaixing xinxi zixun zhongxin"], Open Letter from Wan Yanhai, 28 March 05 (on file with Commission).

19 Human Rights Watch, Restrictions on AIDS Activists in China, 17–22.

20 Environmental NGOs in China: Encouraging Action and Addressing Public Grievances, Written Statement submitted by Elizabeth Economy; for comments by Liao Xiaoyi, director of Global Village Beijing, see Yu Nan, " 'Beijing Global Village': Growing Pains of Grassroots NGOs" ["Beijing diqiu cun": caogen NGO shengzhang zhi kun], 21st Century Business Herald (Online), 26 January 05.

21 Yu Nan, " 'Beijing Global Village': Growing Pains of Grassroots NGOs."

22 Yu Renwang, "When the 'Branch' Meets the 'Association': The Story of a Civil Society Trade Organization" [Dang "fenhui" yushang "xiehui": yi ge minjian hangye zuzhi de gushi], 21st Century Business Herald (Online), 6 April 05.

23 Yu Nan, " 'Beijing Global Village': Growing Pains of Grassroots NGOs."

24 Chen Xiangyang, "PRC: Journal Views NGO Challenges to China, Warns of Western Infiltration Through NGOs," China Economic Daily, 26 May 05 (FBIS, 27 May 05).

25 Xu Xinghan, "People's Daily Commentator: Putting Civil Organizations to Good Use" [Renmin ribao pinglunyuan: fahui hao minjian zuzhi de zuoyong], People's Daily (Online), 11 December 04.

26 Qiu Xin, "China Curbs Civil Society Groups," Asia Times (Online), 19 April 05; "Enterprise Supervision Bureau Carries Out Annual Review of Social Science Research Organizations" [Qijianke zuohao minban sheke jigou nianjian gongzuo], Beijing Municipal Bureau of Industry and Commerce (Online), 11 April 05.

27 "New NGO Founded to Rally All Chinese People Against Worsening Pollution," Xinhua, reprinted in People's Daily (Online), 24 April 05; Bao Rong and Wang Shiling, "China Environmental Protection Federation: The Birth of a Special NGO" [Zhonghua huanbao lianhehui: yi ge teshu NGO de dansheng], 21st Century Business Herald (Online), 25 April 05.

28 Commission Staff Interview.