China's NGO Law: Countering Western Soft Power and Subversion by Eric Draitser
China’s NGO Law: Countering Western Soft Power and Subversion (Originally appearing in New Eastern Outlook NEO) China has recently taken an important step in more tightly regulating foreign non-governmental organizations (NGOs) inside the country. Despite condemnation from so called human rights groups in the West, China’s move should be understood as a critical decision to assert sovereignty over its own political space. Naturally, the shrill cries of “repression” and “hostility toward civil society” from western NGOs have done little to shake the resolve of Beijing as the government has recognized the critical importance of cutting off all avenues for political and social destabilization. The predictable argument, once again being made against China’s Overseas NGO Management Law , is that it is a restriction on freedom of association and expression, and a means of stifling the burgeoning civil society sector in China.