Civil Society Work in China: Trade-Offs and Opportunities for European NGOs

Abstract

Enacted in January 2017, China's Foreign Non-Governmental Organisation Management Law ("FNGO Law") has been interpreted as the clearest evidence of "shrinking spaces" for civil society in China. While the overall trend towards tightened political control and the restriction of independent societal initiatives under Xi Jinping continues unabated, the effects of the new legal environment for non-profits operating in China remain ambiguous. The new FNGO Law epitomises the Chinese party-state's securitised and mistrustful approach towards independent social forces - notably those with Western backing - in the "new era." However, as opposed to other countries with restrictive NGO laws, Chinese authorities have stopped short of directly attacking or scapegoating NGOs. Instead, they portray the law as a transparency- and service-oriented regulatory improvement that finally grants foreign NGOs legal security. After two years, 110 European organisations out of a total of 734 have registered offices or carried out "temporary activities" under the law. Finding a Chinese sponsor remains the foremost challenge. But even registered NGOs struggle with onerous reporting burdens and transaction costs. In conjunction with the Charity Law, the FNGO Law represents an effort to gradually replace foreign funding with domestic donations. But the new legal environment generally favours larger foundations at the expense of smaller, grassroots organisations - be they Chinese or foreign ones. China's FNGO Law is but one piece of a broader shift towards a new governance approach, one that strikes a fragile balance between the openness required for China's lofty global ambitions and the party-state's all-encompassing claim to top-down social control. Facing this challenge to liberal, pluralist conceptions of international relations, European engagement with China requires both cooperation and confrontation. Non-profits engaging directly with Chinese counterparts are as important as advocacy-oriented NGOs working on more sensitive issues without the restrictions that come with continued access to mainland China.