New Beijing limits on religious NGOs "complicate an already difficult life"
Beijing (AsiaNews) - The new regulations on donations to religious
NGOs operating in China
"are complicating life, which is already very difficult. The Chinese
government decisions are understandable from their point of view, but they are
also short-sighted: if they
cut the legs from under the NGOs, they risk discouraging them and loosing them.
And then it will be difficult for them to cope with the social situation that
would arise as a consequence", says an AsiaNews source that operates in
assistance to the disabled.
According
to a new central government policy "operations related to charitable
religious institutions should refer to the principles of self-financing, to be
free from the influence of external forces." In
addition, religious groups "are not allowed to spread their beliefs or
undermine national interests" through charitable activities. The
document is signed by 6 Government Departments: among them are the State
Administration for Religious Affairs and National Commission for the
development and reform.
Religious
NGOs, moreover, "must not accept grants, donations or funds from outside
the country, if they are connected to political or religious organizations.
Groups must be under the control, management and administration of government
departments that are
involved in this work. They will then present their annual work plan to the
local departments of Religious Affairs. "
The
aim, says the AsiaNews source,
"is to stop the flow of money to the Islamic groups and the Tibetans:
these groups are religious, but also have a strong political aspect that the
government wants to slow down at all costs." But
with this choice, the source concludes, "it adds further restrictive controls
for people working in these areas. Beijing,
to eliminate any possible problem, is playing cloak and dagger wave, but also
risks cutting off those who do not want to cause confusion, but only want to continue their mission in favor of the less
affluent. "
This
decision, he concludes, "is likely to further undermine an already precarious
social situation. The government has not so much intended to limit the
religions, but is very afraid of some denominations that also have political
affiliations. They saw what happened in the Middle East with The
Arab Spring and are very frightened: they want to avoid this happening in China at all
costs. "
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