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The Evolution of the CPC’s Conception of Association and Regulation of Social Organizations in China

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Abstract

Freedom of association and all institutions coming with it have not been accepted by the Chinese government. Instead, Chinese social organization administration is based upon the concept of association held by the Communist Party of China (CPC). The Chinese government had adopted a “total control” model of social organization administration in the era of totalitarianism before the “Opening-up and Reform”, leaving almost no room for social organizations to survive, because the CPC had regarded social organizations as “revolutionary” and “deconstructive”. The Chinese has adopted a graduated control system to administrate social organizations in the era of authoritarianism after the “Opening-up and Reform”, treating social organizations differently according to their threats to the ruling order and their utilities for economic development, because the CPC has viewed social organizations as a “challenging” but “auxiliary” power. The on-going “innovation of registration and administration of social organizations” is not a return to international standard regarding social organization administration in China, but only partial reform of the graduate control system still based upon the CPC’s conception of association as “challenging” but “auxiliary”. Social organizations capable of providing public goods in areas of economic development and social services are given more favorable treatment by the government while political and religious organizations are still tightly controlled by the government.

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Notes

  1. The RRASO was promulgated by the State Council and became effective on October 25 1998. It is the primary legal instrument administrates social organizations in a strict sense. Social organizations in China are supposed to be registered under the RRASO.

  2. See Article 35 of the RRASO: “if having conducted preparatory activities before approval from competent government departments or agencies, or if having conducted activities without registration, or if having conducted activities as social organizations after registration having been revoked, social organizations shall be dissolved and their properties shall be confiscated”.

  3. For example, Article 10 of the RRASO reads: “to establish a social organization, the following conditions must be satisfied: (1) an organization must have more than 50 individual members or more than 30 institutional members or, if it has both individual and institutional members, a total of at least fifty; (2) it must have a standard name, and organizational capacity; (3) it must have a fixed location; (4) it must have staff with qualifications appropriate to the professional activities of the organization; (5) it must have lawful assets and a source of funds, while national level organizations must have a minimum of 100,000 Yuan to cover their activities and local social organizations and inter-area social organizations must have a minimum of 30,000 Yuan; and (6) it must be legally liable in its own right. Articles 7 & 9 of the RFA and Articles 5 & 8 of the IRRAPNU contain similar requirements.

  4. To be eligible to establish organizations, religious groups must be among the “patriotic religious groups” designated by the government. The “patriotic religious groups” have a primary task required by the government, which is to “help the CPC and the government to implement their policies regarding freedom of religion, and help followers and members of religious groups strengthen their appreciation of patriotism and socialism”. See Zuoan Wang, Religious Issues and Religious Policies in China (Beijing: China Religious Culture Publisher, 2010), p. 282.

  5. Article 27 of the RRASO reads: “The registration and management agency will have the following responsibilities for supervision and management: (1) it is responsible for the registration and record keeping with respect to establishment, modification and closure of social organizations; (2) it is responsible for conducting an annual review on the social organization; and (3) it is responsible for supervision and review in cases where social organizations fail to comply with these regulations, and for applying disciplinary sanctions to organizations which fail to comply with these regulations.”

  6. As required by the State Council, Ministry of Civil Affairs should complete the new drafts by the end of 2013. See the General Office of the State Council Notice about Task Assignment of Implementing ‘the Plan of the Institutions of the State Council reform and function transformation’, Document No. 22 of 2013, issued by the General Office of the State Council on March 26 2013. However, the new drafts have not been completed when this manuscript is submitted.

  7. To comply with international standards has been an important objective in China’s “Opening-up and Reform”. Especially after China decided to rejoin the GATT in 1986, to comply with international standards has become a major effort for China to earn international recognition and acceptance.

  8. That the society was “swallowed” means the society was controlled by the government to the extreme, leaving almost no room for people to act without direct orders from the government. It is even more unthinkable for people to act as self-organized groups independent of the government.

  9. “The Party’s Basic Route” represents the key contents of the ideology of the CPC in the period of “Opening-up and Reform”, which include “one central task” and “two basic points”. “One central task” is economic development while “two basic points” are to insist “Opening-up and Reform” and to insist “the Four Cardinal Principles”. “The Four Cardinal Principles” include to insist “socialist road”, to insist “people’s democratic dictatorship”, to insist the leadership of the CPC, and to insist Marxism-Leninism and Maoism.

  10. See the first paragraph of the Charter of the CPPCC, “The Chinese people in the long years of revolution and construction have formed a most extensive patriotic united front of all socialist workers, builders of the socialist cause, patriots supporting socialism and patriots supporting the reunification of the fatherland under the leadership of the Communist Party of China and participated in by the democratic parties, public personages without party affiliation, people’s organizations, ethnic minorities and patriotic personalities from all walks of life, including compatriots of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, compatriots of the Macao Special Administrative Region, Taiwan compatriots and overseas Chinese.”.

  11. See paragraph ten of the Preamble of the Constitution of the PRC, “The Chinese People s Political Consultative Conference is a broadly representative organization of the united front, which has played a significant historical role and will continue to do so in the political and social life of the country, in promoting friendship with the people of other countries and in the struggle for socialist modernization and for the reunification and unity of the country.”.

  12. See the part of General Principles of the Charter of the CPPCC.

  13. See the part of General Principles of the Charter of the CPPCC.

  14. The Ministry of Personnel was incorporated into the newly established Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security in 2008.

  15. It is not very accurate to say that the eight democratic political parties are “quasi-governmental”. They are more like subsidiaries of affiliates of the CPC although they get their funding from the government.

  16. For example, the Provisional Regulations on Control of Foreign Boards of Commerce, the State Council Decree No. 36 of 1989, was promulgated in 1989 to encourage foreign businessmen to invest in China. The State Economic and Trade Commission issued Some (Tentative) Opinions about Speeding the Fostering and Developing Associations in Industries and Commerce in 1999, which says that “associations in industries and commerce are an important part of socialist market economy and their fostering and development is an important part of the reform of government institutions and Deepening state-owned enterprises reform”.

  17. Both Article 13 of the RRASO and Article 11 of the IRRAPNU require that respective authorities “shall not allow any application for preparatory activities or any registration application” if “there has already existed a similar social organization [as the applicant] or a social organization focusing on a particular area [where the applicant plan to operate]”.

  18. As hinted earlier in this paper, social organizations opt to register as enterprises for the reason that the procedural and substantive requirements for industrial and commercial registration are comparatively easy to meet. However, social organizations cannot enjoy tax benefits once they successfully registered as enterprises.

  19. Reform measures in Guangdong are comparatively most comprehensive. See the Blueprint of Further Fostering and Regulating Social Organizations, Guangdong Committee of the CPC and Guangdong Provincial government Document No. 7 of 2012.

  20. According to Guangdong reform measures, registered capital is lowered to 2000 RMB from 30,000 RMB, the number of members is lowered to 20 from 50 (natural persons) or 30 (“units”), and the number of full-time employees is lowered to 1. See Guiding Opinions on Fostering Social Organizations Concerning the Daily Life of the Masses in both the urban and rural areas, the Department of Civil Affairs of Guangdong Province document No. 134 of 2012.

  21. According to Guangdong reform measures, registered capital is lowered to 2000 RMB from 30,000 RMB, the number of members is lowered to 20 from 50 (natural persons) or 30 (“units”), and the number of full-time employees is lowered to 1. See Guiding Opinions on Fostering Social Organizations Concerning the Daily Life of the Masses in both the urban and rural areas, the Department of Civil Affairs of Guangdong Province document No. 134 of 2012.

  22. Zeming Jiang, the former Chief Secretary of the CPC, proposed the theory of “The Three Representation” in 2000. To implement Mr. JIANG’s theory, the CPC needs to broaden its “class foundation” and “mass foundation” to elevate the CPC’s influence according to the reality of economic development and living standard improvement As a result, the CPC absorbed many entrepreneur elites, who not only become the CPC members but also are appointed to positions in People’s Congresses and Political Consultative Conferences of various levels.

  23. In relevant Guangdong Province official documents, grassroots social organizations are forbidden to conduct activities related to religion. See Guiding Opinions on Fostering Social Organizations Concerning the Daily Life of the Masses in both the urban and rural areas, the Department of Civil Affairs of Guangdong Province document No. 134 of 2012.

  24. This is evident in the conducts of government offices and employees who view the administration of social organizations as a subject matter in the political domain free from the jurisdiction of the law. For example, Ministry of Civil Affairs once wrote in one of its documents that the regulations regarding the administration of social organizations are only concern with the procedure while substantive issues have to be dealt with according to the CPC’s policies.

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Acknowledgements

We thank the Chinese National Planning Office of Philosophy and Social Science, the Guangdong Planning Office of Philosophy and Social Science and the Guangzhou Planning Office of Philosophy and Social Science for their generous funding. This paper is a product of a research program (the program known as12BFX041 for the National Planning Office of Philosophy and Social Science, as GD15CFX03 for the Guangdong Planning Office of Philosophy and Social Science, and as 16gongjian46 for the Guangzhou Planning Office of Philosophy and Social Science) co-funded by them.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Law, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China

    Jun Yu

  2. Faculty of Law, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou, China

    Henry Hailong Jia

  3. University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana, Champaign, USA

    Henry Hailong Jia

  4. Law School, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China

    Danqiu Lin

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  1. Jun Yu
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Correspondence to Henry Hailong Jia.

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Yu, J., Jia, H.H. & Lin, D. The Evolution of the CPC’s Conception of Association and Regulation of Social Organizations in China. Int J Semiot Law 31, 929–955 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11196-018-9588-3

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