Aid groups working in China said yesterday they feel threatened by new requirements that make it harder to accept overseas donations, and said the central government appeared wary of their work and motivation.
China’s leaders recognize the need for outside help on deep social welfare problems but are worried that the activities of private groups could turn political.
The rules that took effect this month require domestic non-governmental organizations — but not those connected with the government — to show proof that donor organizations based overseas are registered in their home countries, and to present notarized, detailed agreements of donations from foreign groups.
Religious groups face even tighter requirements. They need approval from the State Religious Affairs Bureau for any donation exceeding 1 million yuan (US$146,000).
“I think it’s inevitable that they were going to start tightening the noose on NGOs,” said Meg Davis, executive director of New York-based Asia Catalyst, which works with a number of grass-roots groups in China on AIDS-related projects. “They’ve been tightening restrictions over the past three years. There’s a sense at the top that they’re suspicious of NGO powers.”
She spoke by phone from Yunnan Province, where the organization works with a group of 90 women with HIV. The new regulations are complicating the paperwork needed to set up a system to wire the group money from overseas, she said. For example, Asia Catalyst has been told a representative must be present on a specific day this month to get key paperwork notarized — a day when the group says it cannot send anyone.
“Stopping work is not an option. These women are working with a population that is sick and dying,” Davis said. “The only thing we can attempt to do is comply as best as we can.”
Other groups expressed similar concern but didn’t want to speak publicly.
The new rules were issued by the State Administration of Foreign Exchange, which normally has little to do with NGOs. The rules, posted on the administration’s Web site, came into effect on March 1.
Estimates of the number of NGOs in China vary. The Ministry of Civil Affairs says there are about 400,000 registered ones, but many more are unregistered.
Last month, China told schools to sever all ties with the international relief agency Oxfam and bar its campus recruitment efforts, accusing the group’s Hong Kong branch of having a hidden political agenda. Oxfam has denied that its activities were political.
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