ICC NOTE: It is troubling to know China is continuing to push legislation through that would all but eliminate many foreign non-governmental organizations. Restrictive laws focusing on NGOs financial statements would enable the Chinese government to close or expel specific groups they deem to be hostile to the communist regime. For those who survive the financial onslaught, the Chinese government will put language in to the bill that would allow them to have a say in the appointments of the NGOs employees. ICC, like many other NGOs, are worried the passage of this bill by the rubber stamping legislature will spell an end to humanitarian efforts from foreign groups along with support to the persecuted church. 

3/7/2016 China (UCA News) – When the United States, Canada, Germany, Japan and the European Union wrote a letter to the Chinese government in late January calling on Beijing to reconsider a number of new laws deemed overly restrictive, China was far from happy.

“We have expressed these concerns through a variety of different approaches and continue to raise these with the Chinese government,” a Canadian government spokesman told ucanews.com.

The state media called the “rare joint action” an infringement of Chinese sovereignty as both sides publicly acknowledged the letters for the first time this month.

“Foreign nations should respect China’s efforts to enforce the rule of law,” wrote the nationalisticGlobal Times on March 2.

Among the three laws or drafts argued over is proposed legislation that critics say would limit the ability of foreign non-governmental organizations to operate in China. Hundreds of millions of dollars for poverty alleviation on healthcare and education could be at stake.

Amid the warnings from abroad, China has delayed passing the bill. The Communist Party’s rubber-stamp parliament in Beijing was expected to give the draft a third reading during high-level meetings that started on March 3.

Last May, the government released a draft of the nongovernmental organization law for feedback and has solicited comments from the likes of the foreign business community in Beijing. But while China remains as keen as ever to look good on the global stage, there are few signs it will budge on a key provision: foreign nongovernmental organizations would be required to find a local partner agency and must be overseen by state security.

“Public consultation is a classic law-making tool in China, but rarely — if ever — entails important changes to a draft,” said Hugo Winckler, a legal consultant on Greater China.

Harsh scrutiny

Foreign nongovernmental organizations would be under scrutiny like never before, the Chinese state giving itself power to have a say on staff appointments and routinely scrutinize financial records.

With Beijing showing few signs of significant compromise, China has received a barrage of criticism in recent months as rights groups and foreign governments have warned the law would mark the latest nail in the coffin of Chinese civil society.

Authorities have detained more than 200 lawyers since July. Among them, Christian lawyer Zhang Kai who remains in criminal detention after he helped churches in Zhejiang try to rebuff a campaign by provincial authorities in which more than 1,700 crosses have been removed since late 2013.

“We are seeing a very worrying pattern in China that has serious implications for civil society and the work they do across the country,” the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein said last month, announcing he had sought answers from Beijing on the recent crackdown.

China’s apparent suspicion over the activities of nongovernmental organizations has mirrored other authoritarian regimes, which have restricted overseas organizations, including Russia.

Beijing continues to insist it needs some kind of legal framework to regulate the sector — it has no NGO law currently.

During a visit to the United States in September, President Xi Jinping tried to curb fears that foreign nongovernmental organizations would be pushed out of China altogether.

“So long as their activities are beneficial to the Chinese people, we will not restrict or prohibit their operations,” he told business leaders in Seattle.

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