China has enacted a law that regulates non-governmental organisations with foreign ties, the third in a set of laws introduced in the past year that grants the security apparatus sweeping legal powers over civil society.
The “foreign non-governmental organisations management law” has generated criticism from overseas organisations and Chinese civil society, as it threatens to hit international funding for programmes spanning health, education, the environment and workers’ rights.
It comes amid a broader tightening of scrutiny under Chinese president Xi Jinping, as an expanding civil society pushes for more social and legal reforms. That effort has now been overtaken by an increasingly well-funded and politically empowered security apparatus.