The action, in fact, is part of the recent “crackdown on illegal social organizations” special action of 22 departments, including the Ministry of Civil Affairs and the Ministry of Public Security of China, and those affected include five types of social organizations.
“Yesterday, the Ministry of Civil Affairs, together with relevant departments, jointly held a teleconference to comprehensively deploy a special operation to further crack down on and rectify illegal social organizations, which will focus on five types of illegal social organizations ……”
This is a quote from China’s official mouthpiece, China Central Television (CCTV), in a news program on March 21. This news item indicates that the key targets of the official “special action” include “using the name of national strategy to operate in the fields of economy, Culture and charity”, “using the name of ‘China’, ‘China’ and ‘China’ as their names. China’, ‘China’, ‘national’ and other words, or under the name of state organs, institutions and other subordinate organizations”, “and legally registered social The five categories of “illegal activities” are: “activities carried out in collusion with legally registered social organizations, and confusing them with pearls”, “activities of selection and evaluation on the occasion of celebrating the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Communist Party of China”, “activities of pseudo-health, pseudo-nationalism and mysticism, and activities under the banner of religion”. “The five types of “illegal social organizations”.
And now, this “special action” has spread to some provinces and cities.
For example, on March 25, the Sichuan Provincial Department of Civil Affairs also released a list of “illegal social organizations,” which includes a number of Christian and Buddhist groups, including the Chengdu Church of the Blessing of Autumn Rain, which continues to be persecuted by the authorities.
Pastor Liu Yi, founder of the Chinese Christian Justice Fellowship, who now lives in California, said, “In the eyes of the Chinese government, religious groups and even charitable organizations that do not accept the leadership of the Chinese Communist Party are ‘illegal organizations’ because The Chinese government fears that these civic groups will become a force to supposedly subvert them.”
Among the list of “illegal social organizations” published by the Chinese authorities are also many private charities and public welfare groups. In this regard, Pastor Liu Yi’s view is: “In fact, many religious groups and charitable organizations are not interested in politics, but just want to start some charity work in China, which also shows that the Chinese government is now a grassroots organization. I think such a ‘crackdown’ will only be counterproductive.”
Documents published on the website of China’s Ministry of Civil Affairs on March 22 show that 22 departments, including the Ministry of Civil Affairs, the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection, the Organization Department, the Propaganda Department, the Political and Legal Affairs Commission, the Ministry of Public Security and other Chinese party and government organs, jointly issued a notice on March 20 on eradicating the breeding ground for illegal social organizations and purifying the ecological space for social organizations. The circular prohibits enterprises and institutions, social organizations, party members and cadres, and the media from associating with, participating in, or reporting on “illegal social organizations”.
In addition, the notice also requires that “various public service facilities and places”, “all Internet enterprises”, “all financial institutions” shall not provide “illegal Social organization activities to facilitate”, and said it will “further increase the cost of illegal social organizations to break the law”.
It is worth noting that the list of “illegal social organizations” announced by the Sichuan Provincial Civil Affairs Department on March 25 is quite large, with as many as 84 groups from various industries listed. Ms. Liu, who now lives in the western United States and is from Pingwu, Sichuan, expressed her views on this situation from the perspective of the cultural traditions of Sichuan: “I think it has to do with the tradition of self-organization in Sichuan. In terms of the tradition of opposing authority and organizing oneself, Bashu has always been quite strong. The Chinese Communist Party is more worried that this kind of local self-organization will grow and become a threat to its rule.”
Calls to the Chinese Ministry of Civil Affairs and the Sichuan Provincial Civil Affairs Department went unanswered.
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