Thread by @AMFChina

In the past couple of months we have seen a heated debate between Young Turks and Old China Hands.

At the heart of their disagreement is the question whether or not western engagement with China since the late 1990s has failed /1

As someone who considers himself both a China Practitioner and a China Watcher—a Pracademic so to speak—I have followed this debate with great
interest /2

In the past three years I have been very fortunate to lead a team of like-minded pracademics including Horst Fabian, @patricks_CH, @NMacbean and
@METhorley.

We started our fruitful collaboration with a stakeholder workshop in London in Summer 2017 /3

Supported by the Ford Foundation we jointly monitored and evaluated the state of implementation of China’s Overseas NGO Law (henceforth: the law) from late 2017 until mid-2019 /4

We documented the intended and unintended consequences of the law for European non-profit organisations and their Chinese partners /5

We have now published 17 case studies from our field research in Europe.

They are based on 24 in-depth interviews with leaders and co-workers of European non-governmental organisations in Germany, Netherlands, France, United Kingdom and Italy /6

nottingham.ac.uk/asiaresearch/p…

Due to their still low level of cooperation with China, Eastern, Southeastern and Southern European countries are underrepresented in our sample.

The interviews were conducted after the enactment of the law in January 2017.

The case studies have been anonymised /7

Let me share with you the takeaways from our field work.

All European NGOs appreciate the legacy of often twenty or more years of fruitful, horizontal cooperation with their Chinese partners /8

From a European perspective there was a big break with this positive legacy during the past few years.

This process started already before the implementation of the Law in January 2017 /9

Wide-ranging security legislation ranging from the National Security Law, Cyber Security Law, National Intelligence Law and Overseas NGO Law has made
horizontal and open-ended intercultural communication and collaboration with
China increasingly difficult /10

All of our interviewees perceived China's Overseas NGO Law as a threat to fruitful, trustful and meaningful EU-China cooperation /11

The future of Europe–China civil society cooperation is now uncertain and open.

European NGOs would very much prefer to stay in China and even expand cooperation but, if forced, are prepared to leave /12

Regardless of the current hardships the majority of European NGOs currently active in China are still willing to offer what could be termed a 'challenging' gift of future cooperation /13

The challenge is double: First of all, they believe, to survive in a meaningful way, European-Chinese friendship must mature from acquaintance to true
friend /14

Secondly, they challenge the framework conditions created by the new law and strongly recommend that China reconsiders the institutional framework /15

To flourish, fruitful and meaningful civil society cooperation needs a brotherly spirit of reciprocity within horizontal, trustful relations and enough space for autonomous decisions /16

Without sufficient breathing space EU-China civil society cooperation will first degenerate and then be a thing of the past /17

Disclaimer: Project-related publications have been produced with the assistance of the Ford Foundation.

The contents of these publications are the sole responsibility of the University of Nottingham and can in no way be taken to reflect the views of the Ford Foundation /End

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