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FM AMCONSUL GUANGZHOU
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INFO RUEHOO/CHINA POSTS COLLECTIVE
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UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 05 GUANGZHOU 013381 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR EB, DRL, R, E, EAP/CM, EAP/PD, ECA 
STATE PASS USTR FOR STRATFORD, CELICO 
USDOC FOR 4420/ITA/MAC/MCQUEEN, DAS LEVINE 
USPACOM FOR FPA 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PHUM ECON SOCI KPAO PINR CH
SUBJECT:  Heart of Gold: The Chinese Government (GONGOs) 
Crowd Out Real NGOs 
 
Ref: a) Guangzhou 11657 
 
b) Guangzhou 12155 
 
 
(U) THIS DOCUMENT IS SENSITIVE BUT UNCLASSIFIED.  PLEASE 
PROTECT ACCORDINGLY.  NOT FOR RELEASE OUTSIDE U.S.GOVERNMENT 
CHANNELS.  NOT FOR INTERNET PUBLICATION. 
 
 
¶1. (SBU) Summary: While government-affiliated non- 
governmental organizations (GONGOs) provide needed social 
services, they in many cases by nature preclude or impede 
the development of a strong `western style' non-governmental 
organization (NGO) sector.  Being so tightly aligned with 
the government does present its own unique challenges for 
GONGO officials and they are not immune to some of the 
difficulties their normal NGO brethren face.  Since GONGOs 
play a major role in the legal NGO sphere it appears that 
they are co-opting the limited NGO space instead of widening 
it for others to fully join.  End Summary. 
 
A Governmental Non-Government Organization??? 
--------------------------------------------- 
 
¶2. (SBU) Government NGOs (GONGOs) might sound like an 
oxymoron but are one of largest types of legally registered 
NGOs in China.  GONGOs are mainly offshoots of government 
departments or of mass organizations.  Mass organizations 
include the All-China Women's Federation (ACWF), All-China 
Federation of Trade Unions (ACFTU), China Disabled Person's 
Federation, and Communist Youth League.  Mass organizations 
have been around since 1920's and were originally started to 
protect their members' rights and support Communist 
ideology.  They operate in every province, city, and town; 
the ACFTU itself claims 134 million members, the ACWF states 
it has 60,000 federations nationwide that oversee 980,000 
representative committees.  They potentially are a powerful 
representative force. 
 
What is (and isn't) a GONGO? 
----------------------------- 
 
¶3. (SBU) While mass organizations call themselves NGOs, they 
technically are supra-legal organizations that exists above 
NGO law.  However, if a mass organization's leaders want to 
start a new or separate office that deals with one specific 
subject or area (and most do) they do have to register the 
way a traditional NGO would.  For example, the Women's 
Federation is a mass organization that was founded in 1949 
to protect women's' rights and to implement, "the basic 
lines of the Communist Party of China."   The Guangdong 
Women's Federation Legal Aid Center is a separate 
organization under the Guangdong Branch of the Women's 
Federation that focuses on migrant labor rights and 
education.  The Guangdong Women's Federation Legal Aid 
Center had to register, but it was likely a brief, expedited 
process.  This is because the most onerous part of 
registering a NGO is finding a government department to 
serve as a professional leading organization (sponsor) (ref 
a).  A sponsor is required to monitor a NGO's activities and 
is held responsible if a NGO does something controversial. 
Due to this requirement, there is little incentive for a 
government department to sponsor a traditional NGO; it is 
too risky of a proposition.  However, mass organizations 
themselves are also allowed to serve as professional leading 
organizations making it very easy for them to "sponsor" an 
offshoot of their own organization.  While a GONGO is 
technically an independent organization it is closely tied 
to its parent organization.  For example, the Guangzhou 
Youth Volunteer League director stated that some of his 
staff is `assigned' from his parent organization, the 
Communist Youth League (CYL), and the administrative costs 
of these assigned staff members, are paid directly by the 
central government. 
 
Raking in the Dough; G$NG$s 
--------------------------- 
 
¶4. (SBU) GONGOs, particularly the Women's Federation and 
Disabled Person's Federation, have been quite successful in 
 
GUANGZHOU 00013381  002 OF 005 
 
 
soliciting donor funds from overseas to operate projects in 
South China.  While one researcher argued that this kind of 
support only subsidizes the Chinese government and does not 
expand civil society, there is no denying that this funding 
route is extremely popular.  GONGOs provide stiff and often 
unbeatable competition for traditional NGOs in the race for 
donor dollars.  GONGOs provide several advantages from a 
donor's point view.  First, they are a fully legal entity in 
China, a factor which contrasts directly with the majority 
of traditional NGOs that are unregistered in China due to 
the difficulty of the registration process (ref a).  While 
figures vary, some researchers in South China estimate that 
only 10% of all NGOs operating in China are actually legally 
registered.  Since GONGOs are legally registered, they have 
non-profit status, can have organizational bank accounts, 
and follow a relatively strict set of financial guidelines 
that set many international donors, and their board of 
directors, at ease.  Secondly, their network of offices is 
already established.  Mass organizations such as the Women's 
Federation and All-China Federation of Trade Unions have an 
office in every province, city, county, and in many larger 
factories.  Third, if the goal of an international donor is 
to advocate reform within the Chinese government it makes 
sense to work with a GONGO that is already inside the 
government network.  In the sensitive NGO environment that 
exists in China one would argue this approach is more 
effective than advocating change through widespread public 
pressure or negative media coverage from a traditional NGO. 
Traditional (and unregistered) NGOs lamented that overall, 
when faced with a choice between funding an unregistered NGO 
with only a personal bank account and activities that 
operate on the fringe of society or a GONGO with legal 
registration, guaranteed (somewhat) access to target 
populations, and the prospect of closer cooperation with the 
Chinese government, many international donors reasonably 
choose the latter. 
 
Can a GONGO Really Act Like a NGO? 
---------------------------------- 
 
¶5. (SBU) There is no doubt that GONGOs do implement 
effective activities with their donor's funds but the range 
of their activism in South China varies.  For example, the 
Guangdong Women's Federation Legal Aid Center uses a grant 
from the Asia Foundation to host four hotlines that handled 
over 7000 calls in 2005 and to publish handbooks on AIDS and 
legal rights that have a circulation of over 21,000.  It 
works with 35 factories in the area to give workshops on 
legal rights, health, and labor issues.  When the Women's 
Federation first started its program in 1997 the director of 
the center said she could set a quota of how many workers 
were required to attend the briefings and a certain amount 
of team leaders or `pioneers' were selected by the 
factories.  As time has gone on, the Federation has revised 
its programs and attendance has become voluntary.  In 
addition to the education series, the Women's Federation 
Legal Aid Center has two lawyers on staff who help migrant 
laborers bring suits against their employers, mainly in the 
area of (injured) worker's compensation.  The number of 
cases the lawyers handle has jumped from 50 in 2001 to over 
100 in 2005 with a 90% success rate. 
 
Some GONGOS Still a Blast from the Past 
--------------------------------------- 
 
¶6. (SBU) Not all GONGOs are that proactive; some seem to be 
stuck on a more traditional government-oriented track. 
Guangdong Youth Volunteer League hosts charitable activities 
but many of its activities seem to be more sports or 
culturally-oriented.  The All-China Federation Labor Union 
(ACFLU) is a mass organization that some argue has been 
losing influence as many private firms prevent it from 
operating in their factories (the ACFLU must have the 
owner's assent to open).  Many of the ACFLU's educational 
activities in Guangdong are a throwback to a different era 
with cultural TV programs, programs to increase efficiency, 
and programs to raise the `level of culture' of workers. 
For example, one official at the Guangdong branch of the 
ACFLU proudly told of distributing playing cards, describing 
them as having information about worker's legal rights 
 
GUANGZHOU 00013381  003 OF 005 
 
 
printed on them.  In actuality, instead of listing the 
minimum wage or the basis of overtime law, the playing cards 
exhort the workers to work efficiently and improve their 
level of culture. 
 
Operating Like a NGO But Thinking Like The Government 
--------------------------------------------- -------- 
 
¶7. (SBU) All GONGOs contacted freely admitted that they have 
to moderate their message to please both their parent 
organization and the factories with whom they cooperate 
while also trying to deliver useful information to the 
migrant workers.  The Guangdong Women's Federation Legal Aid 
Center director stated that the Center had serious 
difficulty in starting up its programs.  Factory managers 
were concerned that the Center would incite workers to start 
demanding the minimum wage, overtime compensation, and other 
rights guaranteed by law.  These, of course, were the issues 
the workers were most interested in.  As the labor shortage 
became more and more apparent (beginning in late 2003) the 
director said factory managers became more open to the 
Center's programs as they were looking for ways to decrease 
turnover. 
 
Sensitive Points 
---------------- 
 
¶8. (SBU) GONGOs are also sensitive about the source of their 
funding and the impression that there is secretly an 
American (or western) donor pulling the strings behind the 
screen.  Since they exist within the Party structure GONGO 
leaders are concerned about appearing too western or out of 
line with Party doctrine.  Either one could bring about a 
swift end to a person's career with the government.  In the 
wake of the color revolutions in Europe NGOs in China that 
had American backers came under increased scrutiny.  Two 
GONGO representatives separately both lowered their voices 
to a whisper when they mentioned receiving funding from the 
Asia Foundation.  Even within the government some GONGOs try 
to keep the source of their funding secret.  One GONGO 
administrator tells the story of traveling to Sanxiang, in 
Guangdong province.  Through a local GONGO Sanxiang set up a 
migrant laborer's newsletter with a circulation of over 
10,000 as well as other programs with international donor 
funds.  It was only after returning to Guangzhou that the 
Guangzhou GONGO official learned of the program through a 
friend because she was told Sanxiang project directors were 
keeping a low profile about their projects.  The GONGO 
administrator thought a Consulate request for a meeting with 
the Sanxiang GONGO would likely be denied for similar 
reasons. 
 
Still Party to the Party Apparatus 
---------------------------------- 
 
¶9. (U) Viewed from the outside, even the more liberal GONGOs 
are viewed as too closely tied to the government by local 
unregistered NGOs.  GONGOs in Guangdong are arguably the 
most active in migrant labor and women's issues but no 
unregistered labor NGO officials saw them as potential 
partners.  They uniformly equated them to that of a 
government department.  Some researchers charge that GONGOs 
are precisely there to exclude any other NGOs from operating 
in the same area. 
 
There Can Be Only One 
--------------------- 
 
¶10. (U) According to Chinese NGO registration law a 
professional leading organization (sponsor) is only allowed 
to sponsor one type of NGO at each level (municipal, 
provincial, national).  This is supposed to avoid conflict 
of interests and foster the high "quality" NGOs the central 
government seems to be constantly advocating.  For example, 
if a domestic environmental NGO wishes to operate nationally 
it must have a ministerial level (national) sponsor from the 
State Environmental Protection Agency (SEPA).  However, 
registration laws dictate that there must not be more than 
one of any type of organization at each level (national, 
provincial, municipal) so once a GONGO is set up their 
 
GUANGZHOU 00013381  004 OF 005 
 
 
government sponsors have often been unwilling to sponsor an 
additional organization of the same type, though the 
definition of "type" in the law is open to interpretation. 
The Guangdong Association of Science and Technology's 
director, whose organization is the government sponsor for 
150 science and industrial academic associations, states 
that his association has a separate panel that reviews each 
request for sponsorship and evaluates whether the requesting 
organization is operating in an unique field.  At this 
point, no foreign NGOS are allowed to register unless they 
are a foundation/endowment (septel). 
 
Doing It On Their Own 
---------------------- 
 
¶11. (U) In addition, GONGOs in South China seem to operate 
in isolation and do not have activities that involve 
cooperation either with registered or unregistered 
traditional NGOs in the field.  The Disabled Federation is 
one exception to this as it have been very progressive in 
working with international NGOs to provide services to 
disabled people.  All of the other GONGOs spoken with stated 
that apart from receiving funding they do not cooperate with 
other NGOs and have no plans to do so. 
 
Crowding Out the Competition 
----------------------------- 
 
¶12. (SBU) While no one can doubt that at least some GONGOs 
are doing very good service work, they seem to play a 
limited role in the development of a broader NGO community 
or civic society.  For the government they represent the 
best of both worlds; in many cases they are able to attract 
international donor funds (and media coverage), and add to 
the number of `registered' NGOs all while strictly 
maintaining the party line.  In addition, GONGOs help to 
ensure the survival of mass organizations by expanding them 
from just a Party apparatus to politically correct service 
providers.  In the fields in which they operate in South 
China, their activities are more moderate than that of the 
general (unregistered) NGO community.  Recently, it has been 
widely reported in South China media that the central 
government is working with the Asia Development Bank to 
begin `outsourcing' charity and relief programs to NGOs. 
Upon closer inspection, almost all of the NGOs that are 
slated to receive funding are GONGOs.  The prominence of 
these programs under the guise of NGOs hides the fact that 
even the most uncontroversial and well-established 
traditional NGO has serious problems finding a government 
sponsor with whom to formally register (ref a).  Without 
formal registration NGOs cannot apply for these new 
`outsourcing' grants (foreign NGOs are completely excluded 
unless they have a local partner) or many other types of 
grants.  While unregistered NGOs have been creative in 
finding other modes of operation (ref b) the current 
situation of no registration, no legality and restricted 
access to funds is a serious hindrance to their activities. 
 
Not Building A Civic Society 
---------------------------- 
 
¶13. (SBU) In addition, while some GONGOs encourage a culture 
of philanthropy, the majority have very few programs that 
build a civilian base of volunteers, or encourage popular 
participation in NGO efforts.  Very few GONGOs solicit 
volunteer assistance or launch programs that engage the 
wider community; they mainly focus on providing government- 
like assistance or education materials.  However, there are 
separate independent government departments whose 
responsibility is to provide these type of services.  This 
lack of support for grassroots participation and lack of 
cooperation with already existing NGOs squanders the chance 
GONGOs have to build a civil society base. 
 
Comment 
------- 
 
¶14. (SBU) By occupying the "legal" NGO space GONGOs also 
lessen the pressure for NGO legislative reform.  The media 
and government constantly point to GONGOs to show the 
 
GUANGZHOU 00013381  005 OF 005 
 
 
strength and progressiveness of the Chinese NGO sector. 
Their successes often drown out (though not completely) the 
problems that grassroots Chinese and foreign NGOs have in 
trying to operate in a restrictive atmosphere.  GONGOs seem 
to provide a safe alternative that serves as a rebuff to 
those that bemoan the lack of Chinese civil society as well 
as a safe way for international donors to fund worthwhile 
programming while developing close relations with the 
central government.  GONGOs seem poised to occupy the small 
space allotted to the third sector, to the detriment of the 
legions of NGOs waiting outside the door. 
 
DONG