BEIJING — The hotline rings, but nobody answers.
A Greenpeace protest near Beijing in 2009. A new law in China is raising concern among thousands of nongovernmental organizations about their ability to continue their work in the new year. David Gray/Reuters
China’s Ministry of Public Security opened the line
last month to answer questions about the new law regulating foreign nonprofit
organizations, which takes effect on Sunday.
But this week and last, calls went unanswered,
exemplifying the uncertainty that still surrounds the law, raising concern
among thousands of nongovernmental organizations about their ability to
continue their work in the new year.
The law, which places a raft of new requirements on
foreign nonprofits operating in China, is another building block in President
Xi Jinping’s fortification of one-party rule, which he sees as threatened by
foreign influence and unfettered civil society.
Under the law, foreign nonprofits such as foundations,
charities and many business associations must register with the police,
persuade state agencies and organizations to act as their sponsors, and submit
regular, detailed reports on their activities.
According to an official estimate, there are 7,000
foreign nongovernmental organizations in China. They range from well-known
institutions like the Ford Foundation and Oxfam to groups of a few people
working on issues like rural education, nature conservation and health care.
But groups working on politically sensitive issues
like human rights, legal reform and the rule of law, or those concerning ethnic
minorities, are seen as most at risk.
Some foreign organizations have already pulled back.
The American Bar Association, which has a program providing training and
support to strengthen the rule of law, recently closed its Beijing office until
it could gain formal approval for its work.
Elizabeth Andersen, the association’s associate executive
director, cited the “heightened scrutiny of foreign organizations working in
China and the uncertainties and lack of information surrounding how the new law
will be implemented.”
But the uncertainty has also unsettled groups far
removed from political concerns. Numerous aspects of the law remain opaque, and
many groups are anxious about the vagueness and expense of the new
requirements, while some fear their work will be curtailed or even banned.
“Nothing’s clear,” said Corinne Richeux Hua, executive
director of Stepping Stones, a locally registered charity in Shanghai that
organizes English teachers for children from the countryside. “We’ve got vague
directives and guidelines.”
The local police, with whom her group must now
register, had been helpful, but “they are still figuring it,” she said. “The
rules haven’t been made completely clear to them yet.”
Ambiguity about how the law will be enforced is likely
to make foreign groups extra cautious, and the Ministry of Public Security,
which administers the law, “has every incentive to maintain uncertainty,” said
Jessica C. Teets, a political scientist at Middlebury College in Vermont who
studies nongovernmental organizations in China.
“This will mean that the government is able to more
closely monitor the foreign NGOs, and, more importantly, the Chinese citizens
working and interacting with them, while allowing them to continue the work
that the government deems beneficial,” Ms. Teets said by email. “The NGOs have
every right to fear the closing off of space for advocacy and programs, but I
think the impact will be really differentiated.”
Indeed, a Ministry of Public Security official told
diplomats in Shanghai last month that “the Chinese government will continue
welcoming and supporting foreign nongovernmental organizations coming to
China.”
After Deng Xiaoping opened up China in the 1980s,
foreign foundations, associations and charities became important channels for
sharing money, ideas and inspiration. Officials often welcomed their help,
especially in poorer parts of the country, even though the rules governing
their status were murky.
But certain kinds of organizations, especially those
that work in law and contentious social issues, have garnered distrust. Through
the new law, the government wants to narrow permissible activities of foreign
groups and monitor their work much more thoroughly.
A list of permitted categories of assistance issued
last week suggested that foreign groups offering technical help on
environmental, health and other relatively uncontroversial issues had strong
chances of gaining approval.
Those working on legal issues will have a much
narrower foothold. “Human rights,” for example, is not on the list of permitted
issues.
“Rather than seeing foreign NGOs as potential partners
who can help aid in economic, social and legal development in China, instead
they see a latent threat that needs to be controlled,” said Thomas Kellogg, the
East Asia director of the Open Society Foundations, which has financed some
work in China. “People on the international side are definitely worried. And
well they should be. I think it will be difficult for many foreign NGOs working
on legal reform to register. For those that are able to register, the law will
likely restrict what they are able to do.”
Even before the new law, combative rights lawyers and
advocates, feminists and labor activists have come under Mr. Xi’s heavy grip.
Peter Dahlin, a Swedish citizen in Beijing, was arrested, forced to apologize
on television and expelled from China early this year for working for an
unregistered group that did low-key advocacy for legal rights.
The party sees groups like his as potential Trojan
horses of political subversion. A propaganda video promoted by public security
agencies this month warned that anti-party forces were “using foreign
nongovernmental organizations to nurture ‘proxies’ and to establish a social
basis” for insurrection.
The groups’ worries have been compounded by confusion
about many requirements, the belated release of crucial rules, and signs that
public security bureaus are poorly prepared for their new role.
But it is not just activists and charities who are
concerned. The opaque rules mean that organizations such as business groups,
universities and education programs that seemingly pose no political threat are
also unclear whether they must register for some of their activities.
“Business and trade associations, civil society,
environmental groups and educational institutions that are concerned about how
their operations in China may be affected” have met with American diplomats to
discuss the law, said Mary Beth Polley, a spokeswoman for the American Embassy
in Beijing.
“We remain deeply concerned about the uncertainties
and potentially hostile environment for foreign nonprofit, nongovernment
organizations and their Chinese partners that this law creates,” she said.
Foreign organizations working in China have long had
to seek out domestic agencies or organizations to act as their sponsors. But
the new law narrows the list of permissible sponsors, and those permitted may
be reluctant to take on the risk of vouching for foreign groups, or feel they
do not have the personnel available for the task.
“Who wants to assume this burden?” asks Lester Ross, a
partner in the Beijing office of the WilmerHale law firm who has been advising
companies and organizations on the new law. “I think there’s a real issue of
capacity. The NGO community serves as an important ballast for relationships,
and if this is mishandled, it won’t help.”
While some foreign organizations are resigned to
months of uncertainty, some said they would keep working full time in the
country, confident that public security offices will let them stay open while
the registration is ironed out. Several American trade associations said they
thought they would be allowed to stay, and some groups said they looked forward
to gaining official status under the new rules.
“We see these new regulations as a pretty positive
thing for us,” said Steve Blake, the acting chief representative in Beijing of
WildAid, which works with the Chinese government to fight illegal trading in
wildlife. “We have a big presence here, but we’ve never been completely
officially on the books.”
But organizations working on legal issues or social
problems said they were unsure of their futures and may face hard choices.
Registration may mean sacrificing autonomy, but the alternative may be
abandoning people in China who need their help, said Mr. Kellogg of the Open
Society Foundations.
“I would urge foreign NGOs to adopt a wait-and-see
attitude before they make any final decisions about either registering or
pulling out of China,” he said. “Once there is more clarity about how the law
will be enforced, it will be at least a bit easier to come up with mitigation
strategies.”
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