ICC Note:

A new law regarding NGOs will likely broaden China’s crackdown and give it another tool to use against religious organizations. The NGO law grants broad powers to police with regards to monitoring and questioning NGOs. Many NGOs may be forced to leave. The government has yet to release the new requirements for registration of NGOs and at the same time has said that there will be no grace period for NGOs in meeting the new law. By the time many have learned of the requirements, it may be too late for many NGOs to fulfill them. A professor at the Chinese University of Hong Kong said, “This is clearly the aim for rights groups and activists that the government does not like…”

12/15/2016 China (Reuters) – Foreign organisations including social and environmental advocacy groups fear they could inadvertently break broadly defined new rules that take effect in China next month, with some even shutting up shop to avoid such pitfalls.

Chinese President Xi Jinping’s administration has made sweeping changes to Chinese law in the name of boosting national security, including a controversial cybersecurity law passed last month and another targeting foreign non-governmental organisations (NGO), slated for Jan. 1.

China says the NGO law, which grants broad powers to police to question NGO workers, monitor their finances and regulate their work, is necessary to regulate an unruly sector and that only those operating illegally have anything to fear.

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