law - Experimental NGO's get first green light

China will for the first time allow non-governmental organizations (NGO's) to work in China, announced the official state newswire Xinhua today. It quoted officials of the State Environmental Protection Administration, who announced this remarkable change on Friday.
Officially no organizations outside the state are allowed. All organizations, including trade unions and churches have to operate as a part of the government or the party apparatus.
Many quasi-NGO's have developed, but they are often hardly disguised government departments, or they are technically illegal. Also foreign organizations like the American Chamber of Commerce in Shanghai and the Shanghai Foreign Correspondents Club are forced to operate in a rather murky legal situation, where they cannot act as independent legal entities.
"Your club is not legal, but also not illegal," were the historical words of an official of the ministry of foreign affairs, a few years ago. "China just has not yet the regulations for your kind of organization."
According to estimations only in the environmental area China has at least 2,000 'illegal' NGO's. Legislations on NGO's will be a next step, when experimental NGO's do not cause too much trouble.