China supports overseas NGOs: minister

Draft bill will seek to ‘guide the activities’ and ‘protect interests’ of NGOs

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China welcomes overseas non-governmental organizations (NGO) that wish to promote exchanges and cooperation in accordance with Chinese law and vows to make their work more convenient, the head of the Ministry of Public Security (MPS) said over the weekend.

"The Chinese government highly praises the efforts made by overseas NGOs. We welcome and support them coming to China to engage in friendly exchanges and cooperation," Guo Shengkun, chief of the MPS, said at a conference with overseas NGOs in Shanghai on Saturday.

The Chinese government attaches great significance to the management of overseas NGOs and is drafting laws to guide their activities and protect their interests in China, Guo added.

China currently has no specific laws concerning the management of overseas NGOs, though individual articles in a number of laws and government regulations are related to the management of overseas NGOs.

The State Council submitted a draft law to regulate overseas NGOs to the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress (NPC) for deliberation in December 2014.

The draft was reviewed for the second time in April by the top legislature, which added clauses that would mean that overseas NGOs would not be allowed to establish branches unless the State Council allows them to do so and that the activities of overseas NGOs that conform to the law would be legally protected.

Overseas NGOs will have to register with and be approved by the authorities if they want to set up representative offices or temporarily operate programs on the Chinese mainland, Yang Huanning, vice-minister of public security, was quoted as saying by media when describing the bill to lawmakers.

While at the conference, consul generals of the US, the UK and Germany voiced their concerns over the draft bill, arguing that it may restrict the activities of overseas NGOs in China, Xinhua reported.

The draft law would forbid overseas NGOs from undertaking certain activities which are open to domestic NGOs.Under the law, overseas NGOs will not be allowed to raise funds or receive donations in the Chinese mainland, in addition to not being allowed to participate in commercial activities.

In response, Xu Xianming, deputy director of the NPC Law Committee, argued that the draft law will better protect the legal rights of overseas NGOs and claimed that the bill is a key step in China's push for the rule of law.

"The new law will serve as a platform for mutual understanding for both regulators and overseas NGOs, allowing regulators to know how and what they should regulate," said Yang Xiaojun, a law professor with the Chinese Academy of Governance.

Guo said at the conference that overseas NGOs should have a deep understanding of China and abide by Chinese laws, while making full use of their advantages in ideas, management and funding in order to make more contributions to promoting social development and building close relations between China and other countries.

According to a report released by a newspaper affiliated with the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, there are currently around 1,000 overseas NGOs operating in China.