China passed a controversial foreign non-governmental organisations law in late April, increasing regulation and police supervision of NGO activities, though the final text clarified that "exchanges and cooperation between Chinese and overseas colleges, hospitals, and science and engineering research institutes will continue to follow existing regulations" . This clarification seems to have been added to allay concerns raised after a draft of the law was circulated in June 2015. Although state media reports have emphasised that foreign education institutes will not be classified as NGOs, the full extent and implementation of the law remain somewhat opaque, and there is lingering uncertainty as to whether education activities might intersect with tighter controls. The Ministry of Public Security has promised that detailed administrative guidelines will be published “as quickly as possible”.

Under the law, which will go into effect on 1 January 2017, all foreign NGOs are required to have an official Chinese sponsor and are banned from raising funds in China and conducting any political activities. The law also requires all foreign NGOs to be registered and regulated by central or provincial-level police authorities or public security agencies, and clarifies the registration process, operational rules and liabilities of overseas NGOs. However, a proposed regulation limiting each NGO to a single office in Mainland China, which appeared in the previous draft of this law, has been scrapped. 

There is no specific figure on how many overseas NGOs are in China. According to a report from the Chinese government there are currently up to 6,000 overseas NGOs working in China, including 1,000 operating on a regular basis and an additional 3,000 to 5,000 working temporarily on certain programs. Funds channelled by them into the country amount to hundreds of millions of dollars each year for projects including poverty reduction, health, environmental protection and education.

Analysis:

The exclusion of foreign education and research institutions from the law comes after numerous stakeholders expressed concern about the earlier draft. Last year the British Council raised this issue with Ministry of Education Vice Minister Hao Ping, who provided verbal reassurance that the draft law was not intended to impact on the education sector. However, the tightened regulation of foreign NGOs should serve a reminder that all foreign organisations could still face greater political scrutiny in the future.

Sources:

1. Law on the Management of Foreign NGO Activities inside Mainland China (in Chinese): http://www.npc.gov.cn/npc/xinwen/2016-04/29/content_1988748.htm

2. Press Conference of the Law (in Chinese): http://www.npc.gov.cn/npc/xinwen/2016-04/29/content_1988770.htm ; http://www.china.org.cn/chinese/2016-04/30/content_38359415.htm

3. Other commentaries by Chinese media (in English): http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2016-04/29/content_24945941.htm ; http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2016-04/28/c_135320906.htm ; http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2016-04/25/c_135310929.htm ; http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2016-04/29/c_135323975.htm ; http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2016-05/04/c_135333868.htm

4. Previous SIEM news on the draft law: https://education-services.britishcouncil.org/news/market-news/china%E2%80%99s-draft-%E2%80%98foreign-ngo-management-law