Authorities respond to queries about overseas NGO operation

SHANGHAI -- China's law enforcers on Tuesday responded to questions about how overseas NGOs will operate in China once the new law on overseas NGOs takes effect in January 2017.

At a briefing held by the Ministry of Public Security (MPS) and Shanghai Public Security Bureau in Shanghai on Tuesday, the MPS said there will be no "transitional period" for overseas NGOs.

Overseas NGOS in China are expected to prepare for the new regime and authorities are working on ways to assist them, said the MPS.

The representative offices of overseas NGO can organize activities within registered regions, the MPS said.

Citing articles 10 and 13 of the law, the MPS stressed that overseas NGOs can establish one or more representative offices in China, and should disclose and register the areas where they will operate.

The registered regions of two or more representative offices affiliated to the same overseas NGO should not overlap, it said.

According to the MPS, a catalogue of fields and activities in which overseas NGOs are allowed to operate in China, as well as a list of authorities in charge of their operation, is being drafted.

This will clarify the agencies responsible for the management of overseas NGOs' activities in various fields, including the economy, education and disaster relief, it said.

The ministry is pondering more details on supervising overseas NGO activities.

Officials from consulates of 11 countries in Shanghai, including the United States, Britain, Germany and Japan, attended the briefing.