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Contested symbiosis: state-NGO relations in China

To ‘beat the government at its own game’, Chinese NGOs need to act as rebels and conformists at the same time.

By Joy Y. Zhang
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Beijing Old Bell Tower in Winter.jpg
Beijing Old Bell Tower in Winter.jpg

Beijing Old Bell Tower in Winter. Credit: Joy Zhang. All rights reserved.In May 2015, China’s legislative body, the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress, issued a draft of the statute for foreign non-governmental organisations (NGO) for public consultation. The draft immediately triggered widespread criticism and concern. The controversies focused mainly on two points:

1) Foreign NGOs, just like Chinese domestic NGOs, would also be required to have an official government ‘sponsor’, which acts as a parental organisation that screens their annual activity plans.

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Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0