China audit of NGOs sends ripples through sector

BEIJING, Sep 1 (Reuters) A Chinese government audit of non-governmental organisations has cowed the groups into self-censorship and more conservative behaviour, an expert on the sector said here.

Nick Young, the founding editor of the China Development Brief journal, yesterday said the scrutiny of China's growing band of local and international NGOs began last year, prompted by fears about the impact of revolutions in Central Asia.

''It was quite definitely and quite explicitly linked to the colour revolutions,'' Young told the Foreign Correspondents' Club in Beijing, referring to the popular revolutions that toppled regimes in post-Soviet Ukraine, Georgia and Kyrgyzstan.

''The working assumption is that there is an ulterior motive,'' he said.

Young estimated China has about 3,000 NGOs and said roughly 1,000 of those receive foreign funding.

The government investigation involved state security officials approaching Chinese staff at the organisations for intimidating questioning, and warning to keep the meetings a secret.

The long-term fallout from the investigation on the sector was still unclear, Young said, but the immediate impact was a more cautious stance among the NGOs.

''The immediate impact clearly is the element of self-censorship,'' he said.

China had welcomed international NGOs for the money they bring that helps make up for a dearth of government spending in public welfare and environmental protection, but Young said there was now a virtual moratorium on the registration of new groups.

The most sensitive areas for work were for those organisations that were perceived to be involved in organising workers and peasants.

But Young said the vast majority of the groups had no interest in antagonising the government.

''Most intelligent NGOs work very closely with the government,'' he said. ''It's the way to be most effective.'' Reuters SRS VP0450