Hong Kong protesters demanded the release of political dissident, Xu Zhiyong, the founder of Gongmeng and figure head of China's new citizen movement. Image from Wikipedia The China National People's Congress passed a second reading of the Foreign NGOs Management Law last month and released the complete text of the draft legislation on May 5. The latest draft has been described by major state-directed media as lessening control over foreign NGOs, since it allows them to open offices in the country with permission from the government. These changes were explained by way of “the Chinese government's positive attitude towards some international NGOs” in a government commentary on the draft. Yet Chinese NGO circles remain skeptical about the new law. The first draft of the law, written jointly by the Ministry of Public Security and the Ministry of Civil Affairs, was submitted to the bimonthly session of the National People’s Congress Standing Committee (NPC) in December 2014, but the details were not disclosed until March 2015 when it was amended. In the same month Chinese officials revealed some fresh restrictions imposed on foreign NGOs. As Maya Wang, China researcher for Human Rights Watch, pointed out to Global Voices: The second draft has made no significant improvement upon the first from a human rights point of view. There are some changes, but they are technical changes and do not alter the fundamental purpose of the law, which is to significantly tighten the Government's control over civil society if adopted. Research carried out by the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences estimates that there are about 1,000 foreign NGOs operating in China and an average of between 4,000 and 6,000 NGO projects on issues including poverty, environment, health and education carried out annually. These projects — worth hundreds of millions of U.S. dollars combined — often involve partnerships with local NGOs and social groups. The new law forbids foreign NGOs that have not registered in China or obtained a permit for their temporary projects to commission local organizations or individuals to carry out activities inside the country (Article 6). Prominent activist Zeng Jinyan says that provision in particular will increase risks for domestic NGO workers: 根据这个草案，国内NGO的风险巨增，国际国内Ngo若想在中国开展活动，几乎全都丧失独立性。境外非政府组织管理法（草案二次审议稿）全文（标注版） | http://t.co/LmR5WW5YOU — zengjinyan (@zengjinyan) May 6, 2015 According to the draft, the risk of running domestic NGOs will increase tremendously and both international and domestic NGOs will lose their independence in their China projects. See Foreign NGOs Management Law (Second Draft) whole text (with notes): http://t.co/LmR5WW5YOU Notably, the State Council Public Security Department will have an outsize role under the new legislation, obtaining the power to approve the registration of foreign NGOs and manage their activities. That “management” entails a “coordination mechanism” that involves “researching, coordinating and resolving major problems in the management of foreign NGOs” (Article 7). Maya Wang elaborated further on the role of the Department: […]'supervision’ can entail entering the premises of the foreign NGO at any point, questioning its staff, and copying or seizing any document, all tactics more commonly reserved for a criminal investigation. Foreign NGOs will have to submit for approval annual work plans and funding allocations, and will be prohibited from engaging in a range of peaceful activities, from raising funds or accepting donations in-country to recruiting volunteers or trying to recruit members ‘directly or indirectly.’ Violations mean that an NGO's representative in China (the draft law now requires foreign NGO to establish a representative office) would be liable to punishments, including a 15-day detention. The release of the draft law prompted a broad public discussion. A detailed explanation of how the law might curb the development of the NGO sector in China soon circulated widely among Chinese NGO workers via social media. The author of the explainer lists a number of adverse impacts on the civic sector in mainland China: 1. Workload and recruitment: 按照新法，境外NGO临时活动每年一申，而设立代表机构五年就得重新申请一次，并且代表机构实习“双主管”制度，除了要找业务主管，还得到公安部门登记，稍微挪一挪，就得这个主管同意，那个主管备案，活动前各种申请，活动完各种递交材料——一个活动稍微多点的机构，估计每年光是跑行政事务，都得跑烂几双鞋。 According to the new law, foreign NGOs have to fill in applications for their temporary projects once a year. As for the setting up of sub-branches, they have to re-file an application once every five years. The [NGO] offices in China will be under a “dual-supervision-system”, which means their projects have to be approved by related authorities and the public security department. Any change would have to get the approval again.