China passed a long awaited law on Thursday, April 28 governing the registration, operation, funding, and supervision of foreign chairities in the country.

The law seeks "to regulate and guide activities conducted by overseas funding agencies within mainland China, safeguard their lawful rights and interests, and promote exchanges and cooperation."

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The law puts a strong emphasis on protecting China's security: Article 5 of this new law mentioned that NGOs "must not endanger China's national unity, security, or ethnic unity; must not harm China's national interests, societal public interest and the lawful rights and interests of citizens, legal persons, and other organizations; [...] must not engage in or fund for-profit activities or political activities, and must not illegally engage in or fund religious activities." 

The new law gives the police power to review the source of funding and examine the spending pattern of foreign non-government organisations (NGOs) on a regular basis and take appropriate legal actions. This police is also authorized to interrogate the administrators of these NGOs and convince their Chinese partner agencies to terminate any project considered a threat to the country's security.

Thousand NGOs founded, run or financed by foreigners are currently operating in China in various fields ranging from animal protection to human rights law and environmental protection.

There are numbers of overseas NGOs, who have partnered with Chinese academic and social groups, but work in a legal gray area that leaves them susceptible to clampdowns by the security forces.

The new draft law says the foreign charity organisations are not required to seek approval for occasional activities and projects but their Chinese partner organisations will have to register with local authorities 15 days before the start of the project.

The draft law says that foreign charities - whether running long term offices or operating infrequent programs in China - generally would not be permitted to recruit new staffs except for those allowed by the state council. That is largely because China is encouraging its scientists to join powerful international organizations in science and technology.

TagsNGO, Charity, china