The government should relax the current laws to promote the development of NGOs, says an article in China Youth Daily. An excerpt follows:

It is reported that the Ministry of Civil Affairs recently convened some experts to panel review a provisional rule, which will be used to assess the performance of non-government organizations (NGOs) in order to stimulate their development.

With growing public enthusiasm to participate in social management, more and more NGOs are emerging in China.

However, the development of NGOs in China is still at a preliminary stage.

For example, there are 110 NGOs per 10,000 people in France and 97 per 10,000 people in Japan, while in China, the figure is a mere 2.1.

This is a legacy of the planned economy. At that time, the government used to take care of almost everything, including various social issues.

Although China is now in a transitional period from a planned economy to a market one, some factors still hamper the development of NGOs.

According to existing laws, any organization has to register with an industry watchdog to which its activities belong before it can officially register with civil affairs departments as a formal NGO, a rule that has prevented many potential NGOs from being officially registered.

And some unregistered NGOs are engaged in illegal dealings, tarnishing their image and curbing NGO's public credibility as a whole.

It should be acknowledged that in a market economy, government's role is limited, implying that many social management issues, previously shouldered by the government, should be transferred to relevant NGOs.

As such, the government should do more to promote the development of NGOs, for example, by relaxing the current tight rules concerning NGO registration.

Granting more room for NGO's development, which could enable them to shoulder more social management and provide more social services, is a step forward in our pursuit of a civil society.

(China Daily September 13, 2005)