VZCZCXRO0315
RR RUEHCN RUEHGH
DE RUEHGZ #2155/01 1110853
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 210853Z APR 06
FM AMCONSUL GUANGZHOU
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 5505
INFO RUEHOO/CHINA POSTS COLLECTIVE
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHDC
RUEKJCS/DIA WASHDC
RHEHNSC/NSC WASHDC
RHHMUNA/HQ USPACOM HONOLULU HI

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 04 GUANGZHOU 012155 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR EB, DRL, R, E, EAP/CM, EAP/PD, DRL 
STATE PASS USTR FOR STRATFORD 
USDOC FOR 4420/ITA/MAC/MCQUEEN, DAS LEVINE 
USPACOM FOR FPA 
 
E.O. 12958:  N/A 
TAGS: EAID ECON PGOV PHUM SOCI CH
SUBJECT: (SBU) Heart of Gold: "Business NGO" Legislation 
Tightens in South China 
 
 
REF: A) Beijing 1599 B) Guangzhou 011657 C) Chengdu 000742 
 
 
Summary 
------- 
 
¶1.  (SBU) Faced with nearly insurmountable legal 
registration requirements foreign and domestic NGOs often 
turn to registering as a normal for-profit business, which 
is technically illegal.  While widespread enforcement is 
rare, authorities in South China take advantage of the 
illegal status of the majority of NGOs to selectively target 
the ones deemed to be too controversial.  NGOs themselves 
limit their activities by either informally working with the 
government on service activities (mainly health NGOs) or 
working independently (mainly labor, environmental NGOs) but 
avoiding activities that would cause undue attention on 
their organization.  While new business registration 
guidelines which were issued in March 2005 did not have the 
effect of causing droves of unregistered NGOs to flock to 
the Ministry of Civil Affairs to register or shut down their 
`illegal' activities they did contribute to an already 
unfriendly climate for NGOs in South China. 
 
¶2.  (SBU) Searching for relief from difficult formal 
registration laws many NGOs sought normal for-profit 
business registration as a way to have a legal entity in 
South China.  One year after revised business regulations 
were promulgated we look at the impact of the rules that 
were meant to edge NGOs out from underneath the (illegal) 
umbrella of normal business registration to under the 
Ministry of Civil Affairs' (MCA) specialized NGO 
registration. 
 
Registration by the book 
------------------------- 
 
¶3.  (SBU) According to the Ministry of Civil Affairs' 
regulations all NGOs or non-profit groups are required to 
register with the MCA (ref A).   Official NGO registration 
involves finding a government department or mass 
organization (such as the Communist Youth League or All 
Women's Federation) to sponsor the NGO and the NGO must 
adhere to a strict series of legal and organizational 
requirements.  Sponsorship formally means that the 
government department reviews the NGO's finances and 
operations yearly but informally means the sponsor is going 
to be held liable if the NGO hosts controversial activities. 
This makes government departments extremely reluctant to 
sponsor a NGO; it is seen as a high-risk, low-return 
proposition (ref B).  There are also requirements that 
stipulate property requirements, a certain level of 
registration capital, a list of members must be submitted, 
and the NGO can only do activities delineated in the 
charter.  During the course of this lengthy investigation 
every prospective NGO office is personally visited by a MCA 
investigator.  In addition, foreign NGOs are only allowed to 
register as foundations, which carries an even more onerous 
set of restrictions (septel).  Foreign NGOs are not allowed 
to register for the two other types of NGOs, social 
organizations and non-profit professional units. 
 
A Back Door for NGOs? 
----------------------- 
 
¶4.  (SBU) Since most local (Chinese-founded) NGOs cannot 
find a government sponsor and most foreign NGOs cannot find 
a sponsor or meet the strict foundation regulations many 
NGOs turn to for-profit (normal) business registration as 
the way to have a legal identity.  NGOs registered as normal 
businesses (business NGOs) are technically illegal (because 
they should register with the MCA) and the head of the NGO 
registration bureau for Guangdong Province flatly denies the 
existence of this kind of `back door.'  However, because 
there is little enforcement many NGOs openly choose this 
method of registration because it allows them to have an 
organizational bank account and an official chop/seal 
without going through the onerous formal NGO regulations. 
 
Business Registration 101 
------------------------- 
 
GUANGZHOU 00012155  002 OF 004 
 
 
 
¶5.  (SBU) The process of registering as a business is fairly 
straightforward.  It usually takes about 20 days and 
involves no site visits, inspections or need for a 
government sponsor.  According to one Guangzhou MCA 
official, registering as a social organization requires a 
six-month pre-registration phase; two foreign NGOs that were 
trying to register as a foundation (a different sub-type) 
stated they have been waiting for well over a year for their 
registration review to be complete (septel). 
 
¶6.  (SBU) There is a registration capital requirement of RMB 
30,000 - 100,000 (USD 3,750 - USD 12,500) for business 
registration, but it is quite a bit less than the RMB 
two-eight million (USD 250,000 - USD one million) required 
for NGO foundations (the only way a foreign NGO can 
register).  In addition, several NGOs stated that there are 
companies that regularly provide the service of (illegally) 
providing the funds for business registration capital and 
retaking it after the business license is approved.  There 
are even legal ways of getting around the requirement as one 
legal-aid NGO said they were able to get the registration 
capital requirement waived because they were only setting up 
a small consulting company.  Some NGOs have also been able 
to work out systems for avoiding the payment of business 
taxes.  Business NGOs usually try to spend all of their 
yearly funds before the tax-year ends and therefore claim no 
profit and thus avoid paying taxes. 
 
The Government Attempts to Shut the Back Door 
--------------------------------------------- 
 
¶7.  (SBU) This route became more difficult March of last 
year when the business registration regulations were amended 
so that  `businesses' could no longer use the name "research 
institute" or "association" in their name.  This action was 
clearly directed at NGOs that sailed under the `flag of 
convenience' of business registration.  This notice was 
placed on a local MCA website and most business NGOs were 
aware of the change.  Enforcement of the new regulations was 
not widespread however.  According to local MCA officials 
there is no formal enforcement structure and only if an 
illegal NGO comes to their attention will they address the 
problem.  Two municipal officials and one provincial MCA 
official separately confirmed that there was no spike in MCA 
registrations after the rule was changed.  Based solely on 
numbers, the rule seemed generally ineffective as a tool for 
promoting MCA registration or causing the widespread 
shutdown of business NGOs. 
 
However, It Is Not Quite Closed Yet 
----------------------------------- 
 
¶8. (SBU) While most business NGOs were aware of the new 
rules, few knew organizations that had shutdown or had re- 
registered. One independent HIV/AIDS business NGO in Guangxi 
said it had such close cooperation with the government 
(health department) that it was not concerned about being 
shut down or otherwise penalized.  It is common in South 
China for some unregistered NGOs to cooperate with the 
government on an informal basis, particularly in the health 
sector (ref B).  NGOs that have this kind of informal 
cooperation with the government often focus mainly on 
service activities and care of people with illnesses.  For 
example unregistered NGOs in South China cooperate with 
government departments to give free counseling to AIDS/HIV 
patients, to provide medical assistance to leprosy victims, 
to provide medical care to children orphaned due to AIDS, 
and prostheses to handicapped children.  All NGOs 
interviewed separately concurred that unless you hosted (or 
were suspected of) very controversial activities there was 
little chance of being shut down or heavily pressured by the 
police.  The penalties for not registering with the MCA 
mainly seem to entail having a business registration revoked 
or, if unregistered, your office and bank accounts can be 
closed.  Few representatives from unregistered NGOs had 
concerns about being jailed, even though several believe 
that they are under active surveillance by the government. 
 
CWWN: The Tale of One "Controversial NGO" 
----------------------------------------- 
 
 
GUANGZHOU 00012155  003 OF 004 
 
 
¶9. (SBU) The Chinese Working Women's Network (CWWN) is a 
progressive `business NGO' that works on legal aid, health 
education and labor organization.  While it had coordinated 
with the Ministry of Health in the past for its health bus 
(a traveling van equipped with health and labor information 
for female migrant laborers), last year the Ministry's 
provincial-level department in Guangdong had begun to ask 
for its registration documents.  The NGO's officials were 
told that its business license, which had always been 
sufficient in the past, was no longer enough.  After this, 
CWWN received a notice at their Shenzhen (Guangdong 
Province) female migrant labor center that it needed to 
immediately report to the MCA to register.  The project 
coordinator stated that the increased scrutiny and 
registration notice was probably due to their identified 
contributions to reporting in the Hong Kong press about 
labor conditions in Shenzhen. 
 
CWWN: Actively Organizing Underground 
--------------------------------------------- ------ 
 
¶10. (SBU) With no hope of finding a government department to 
as act as a sponsor, CWWN officials closed their center and 
began operating secretly, moving their drop-in center office 
3-4 times in the past year.  After closing the Bao'An center 
they also shifted to focusing more on factory activities. 
They target medium-size Chinese factories of at least 300 
people that have minimal security around their dormitories. 
CWWN's staff intensively works with the group of workers 
educating them about their rights and helping them to 
organize into a community support network.  They currently 
work with approximately ten factories and have 16 support 
networks of 15-100 workers already established throughout 
the corridor between Guangzhou and Hong Kong.  When entering 
a new factory they help the workers to identify a leader and 
work on training and gradually move from social topics to 
health and labor topics.  Funds are mainly raised in Hong 
Kong and are physically brought over when employees travel 
back and forth.  CWWN also maintains its previous activities 
such as the health bus but the staff states the NGO 
environment in general is much more difficult to work in. 
Interestingly, with all the problems it faces, CWWN still 
enjoys the support of a local university, which allows it to 
store the health bus and training materials on campus. 
 
CWWN: Plans For The Future 
--------------------------- 
 
¶11. (SBU) Realizing that it needs a more permanent base of 
operations the organization is considering a move to a 
neighboring city, Dongguan.  Its previous business 
registration was as a company in Shenzhen but CWWN staff are 
now looking to open a bookstore in Dongguan.  The project 
coordinator thinks the bookstore will give them good cover 
and a traceable stream of income to bolster its business 
registration.  Dongguan is also widely recognized as the 
city with the worst labor conditions and relatively lax 
government controls on labor infractions. 
 
Comment: Just Another Hammer in the Toolbox 
------------------------------------------- 
 
¶12. (SBU) While the majority of NGOs in South China 
anecdotally seem to be unregistered, business registration 
still seems to be the next most popular method of operating, 
despite government disapproval of the method.  Over the past 
year the government seems to be constricting the space 
improperly registered NGOs can operate in while releasing 
tantalizing hints of new, broad NGO legislation that is 
supposed to be in the pipeline (ref C).  This aura of legal 
uncertainty seems to push NGOs into one of two camps; in 
both camps their activities veer away from the controversial 
or confrontational.  In one camp are NGOs that are able to 
work out an informal understanding with a local health 
department or disabled association and end up mainly focused 
on providing services with only a limited or non-existent 
`traditional' advocacy role.  In the second are NGOs that 
operate more independently (mainly labor, environmental 
NGOs) and rely on staying off the official radar screen by 
hosting low-key or uncontroversial activities.  CWWN seemed 
to break two important rules; it focused too intently on 
direct labor organizing and went to the press with 
 
GUANGZHOU 00012155  004 OF 004 
 
 
embarrassing information.  When a NGO gets too out of line, 
like CWWN did, it can easily be punished with one of the 
many legal tools from the registration toolbox. 
 
Dong