VZCZCXRO6185
RR RUEHCN RUEHGH RUEHVC
DE RUEHBJ #3235/01 3370919
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 030919Z DEC 09
FM AMEMBASSY BEIJING
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 7052
INFO RUEHOO/CHINA POSTS COLLECTIVE

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 BEIJING 003235 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: CH ELAB PGOV PHUM SOCI
SUBJECT: LABOR NGO COMMUNITY OPTIMISTIC DESPITE SETBACKS 
 
REF: A) BEIJING 2733 
 
¶1. (SBU) Summary:  Participants in a mid-November grassroots 
Chinese labor NGO conference noted that labor NGOs, like all 
civil society groups in China, continue to face difficulties, 
including registering their organizations and obtaining legal 
status.  However, they emphasized, their organizations have 
benefited from "the globalization of civil society," namely, 
the growing partnerships between Chinese and international 
NGOs.  Beijing municipal authorities have reportedly been 
given the green light to contract with local NGOs for the 
provision of some social services.  Several conference 
participants cited this change as an important step in 
solidifying a more substantive role for civil society groups 
in China.  End summary. 
 
UPBEAT SPEAKERS CITE POSITIVE TRENDS 
------------------------------------- 
 
¶2. (SBU) Approximately twenty Chinese grassroots labor NGOs 
convened in Beijing for the Northern China Labor NGO Forum 
November 14-16.  PolOff attended the final day of the forum, 
which was organized by the International Republican Institute 
(IRI) and Little Bird, a ten-year-old Chinese labor NGO that 
provides legal and educational services to migrant workers. 
Grassroots labor NGOs from Shenzhen, Guangzhou, Shenyang, and 
Zhejiang and Heilongjiang provinces were among those in 
attendance.  Representatives from the Henan provincial 
government and the Beijing branch of the Communist Youth 
League (CYL) also spoke at the conference.  In spite of the 
close political scrutiny Chinese NGOs face (reftel), this 
conference took place as planned and participants expressed 
optimism about the long-term prospects for civil society 
development in China.  Labor NGOs, once considered highly 
sensitive, appeared to be gaining official acceptance, they 
noted. 
 
¶3. (SBU) Zhao Daxing, Deputy Secretary General of the China 
Association for NGO Cooperation (CANGO), a nationwide 
umbrella organization for NGOs sanctioned by the Ministry of 
Civil Affairs (MOCA), noted that the May 2008 Sichuan 
earthquake had been a watershed event for NGOs in China. 
Since then, NGOs had been demonstrating increased 
professionalism and specialization.  International NGOs 
continued to establish offices in China, and individual 
volunteerism was on the rise, Zhao said.  Labor NGOs were 
becoming more attuned to the interests of workers by devising 
practical ways to assist them, such as by working to resolve 
wage arrears disputes, instead of focusing solely on 
promoting corporate social responsibility.  Shen Yuan, a 
professor of sociology at Tsinghua University, said that 
Chinese corporations were becoming more involved in 
supporting NGOs and that government policy toward NGOs was 
relaxing, although slowly.  Shen and Zhao agreed that 
globalization had extended to the civil society sector and 
was allowing Chinese and international NGOs to cooperate on 
common goals. 
 
PROBLEMS PERSIST 
---------------- 
 
¶4. (SBU) Han Huimin of Home for Rural Women, a Beijing NGO 
that helps female migrant workers, told conference 
participants that the Beijing municipal government had been 
authorized to contract with NGOs to provide social services. 
Han said this represented a step forward in the government's 
recognition of the positive role civil society organizations 
could play in China, although she was critical of the 
attitudes of local officials, many of whom were not 
supportive of developing the civil society sector.  (Note:  A 
former MOCA official subsequently told PolOff that there were 
no formal policies on local government contracts with NGOs 
and that these arrangements remained ad hoc.)  However, Han 
also cited several challenges that continued to hamper the 
development of labor NGOs.  Chinese NGOs, she said, had weak 
administrative capabilities, lacked public relations 
experience, and faced a shortage of qualified NGO managers. 
Since migrant laborers were a floating population, Chinese 
labor NGOs had trouble building long-term contacts within 
their target group. 
 
¶5. (SBU) Zhao noted that support for NGOs by Chinese 
corporations remained low.  Han Huimin estimated that 80 
percent of the financing for Chinese labor NGOs came from 
overseas.  Labor advocacy groups, like other Chinese NGOs, 
remained overly dependent on larger and better equipped 
international NGOs for grant money, noted Zhao.  Chinese 
corporations were often reluctant to cooperate with NGOs for 
fear of being pressured for funding.  Labor NGOs, in turn, 
were hesitant to accept donations from companies out of fear 
they would compromise their ability to advocate for and 
provide services to workers. 
 
 
BEIJING 00003235  002 OF 002 
 
 
¶6. (SBU) CANGO's Shen Yuan observed that migrant workers 
remained underserved by the NGO community and the number of 
labor NGOs was surprisingly small.  While there were about 
2,000 Chinese NGOs focusing on educational and environmental 
issues, only 50-100 labor NGOs served a manufacturing labor 
force of over 200 million.  Nearly all labor NGOs were 
concentrated in Beijing and the Pearl River Delta, 
exacerbating what Shen referred to as a significant 
"structural contradiction" between the demand for NGO 
services and the supply of organizations that perform these 
services. 
HUNTSMAN