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| Strong leadership of the Communist Party of China |
China's Ministry of Civil Affairs recently released the "Administrative Measures for Branches and Representative Offices of Social Organizations." The measures require that branches and representative offices of social organizations accept the full leadership of the Communist Party of China. Those meeting the requirements should establish grassroots CPC organizations; those not meeting the requirements must still carry out relevant CPC work as required. The measures also repeal the old registration measures from 2001 and expand related management to include aspects such as the titles of responsible persons, financial accounts, the use of seals, and revocation procedures.
According to a report by CCTV News on July 2, new regulations issued by the Ministry of Civil Affairs stipulate that branches and representative offices of social organizations are integral parts of the social organizations but do not have legal person status. Their legal responsibilities are borne by the social organizations that established them. Social organizations bear primary responsibility for the management of their established branches and representative offices. The new regulations will take effect on August 1.
In an interview with this station, Chinese legal scholar Lu Chenyuan said that the authorities' introduction of regulations restricting social organizations from establishing branches is mainly due to political security considerations. He said, "The restriction on social organizations from establishing branches is essentially a consistent practice of totalitarian societies, which is to atomize individuals, prevent you from establishing mutual aid social groups, and prevent you from establishing your own organizations and associations. This is consistent with the fear of association in all totalitarian societies."
Four types of branch offices are prohibited from being established.
The regulations consist of 29 articles. Article 6 lists four types of prohibited branch offices: regional branch offices, clan/family branch offices, branch offices with obvious overlap in members, and branch offices with the same or highly similar names or business scopes. The regulations also stipulate that social organizations may not establish or indirectly establish branch offices or representative offices under their existing branch offices or representative offices.
In response, Wang Jiang (pseudonym), an independent scholar in China, told reporters that this incident reflects the authorities' vigilance against nationwide social organizations controlled by senior Beijing bureaucrats, and is also a precaution against the emergence of alternative collusion groups within the CCP. He said, "In the past, regulations, while not prohibiting the branches of social organizations, strictly limited them, which has already constrained the development of social organizations in China. The latest strict prohibition is another control measure in civil affairs registration following the crackdown on civil society, especially independent NGOs, from 2014 to 2015, and the establishment of the Ministry of Social Work. It aims to further control the size of existing officially certified social organizations that serve as fronts for the party and government."
The old registration method is hereby repealed.
A review of the "Registration Measures for Branches and Representative Offices of Social Organizations" issued by the Ministry of Civil Affairs on July 30, 2001, revealed that Article 6 of the old measures stipulated that if a proposed branch office was named after an administrative division or had regional characteristics, the registration authority would not register it; similarly, the establishment of further branches or representative offices under existing branches or representative offices would also be rejected. Article 14 further stipulated that activities conducted in the name of regional branches would be handled by the registration authority. However, the old measures did not contain phrases such as "adhering to the overall leadership of the Communist Party of China," "establishing a Party organization," or "carrying out Party work."
The new regulations released this year have changed the restrictions from "not allowed to register" to "not allowed to be established," and added new prohibited categories such as branches of clans with surnames, branches with obvious overlap in members, and branches with the same or highly similar names and business scopes. The new regulations also require branches and representative offices to accept the full leadership of the Communist Party of China, and those that meet the conditions must establish grassroots organizations of the CPC, while those that do not meet the conditions must still carry out relevant CPC work as required.
Lu Jun, co-founder of the Beijing Yirenping Center, told this station in an interview that the new regulations target social organizations, commonly known as official NGOs or GONGOs. While these organizations do have irregularities in their operations, and the new regulations do cover financial management, the focus is on severing the connection between social organizations and local communities and grassroots people, and strengthening Party organizations and control within these organizations. Lu Jun said, “In this way, social organizations, which were originally civil society organizations and grassroots organizations, have actually become completely subservient to the Communist Party. The Communist Party is a political party, and the non-political, non-partisan nature of social organizations has been completely destroyed, and further destroyed. From the above analysis, such a regulation, on the surface, aims to regulate the operation of social organizations, but in reality, it undermines the construction of civil society and also damages citizens' freedom of association.”
Human rights lawyer: The Party must provide comprehensive and thorough leadership.
Chinese human rights lawyer Mr. Zhang believes that the new regulations, which strictly limit the establishment of branches and representative offices by non-governmental organizations, are intended to prevent the expansion of these organizations. He said, "The main purpose is to control social groups and effectively regulate them; this is a powerful tool to restrain them. At the same time, it emphasizes that these branches and representative offices must adhere to the Party's overall leadership. If they meet the requirements for establishing Party organizations, they must be established; if not, Party work must still be carried out. This means that the Party must provide comprehensive leadership without any blind spots."
Mr. Zhang believes that the authorities' move is intended to restrict the development of civil society groups and ensure that these organizations operate under the complete control of the Communist Party.
Clan organizations have appeared on the illegal list multiple times.
However, China's Ministry of Civil Affairs has previously stated explicitly that it has not registered any surname-based clan organizations. Public records show that clan-based organizations have long existed in grassroots and local communities, and have repeatedly appeared on lists of suspected illegal social organizations, banned, or advised to disband published by the Ministry of Civil Affairs.
The list of illegal social organizations published by the Ministry of Civil Affairs in 2018 included several surname-based clan organizations such as the "Chinese Qu Clan Association," the "World Wu Clan Association," and the "Shang Clan Council." In 2021, the list of illegal social organization websites shut down by the Ministry of Civil Affairs in conjunction with the Cyberspace Administration of China also included the "National Xing Clan Association." These publicly available lists indicate that although surname-based clan organizations are not registered in the Ministry of Civil Affairs' system, their activities still exist in grassroots and local communities.
