China - Comparing Environmental Policies in 16 Countries - page 255

China has virtually no independent interest groups as are so prominent
in Western democracies. In recent years the government has changed its
prohibition of such groups, as an attempt to gain acceptance in the rest of
the world for membership in the World Trade Organization in the skep-
tical opinion of some. The oldest, Friends of Nature, dates only to 1994,
when it was founded by Liang Congjie. Like all so-called nongovernmental
organizations, it must be sponsored by a government agency, in this case
the Ministry of Civil Affairs. These are called government-organized non-
governmental organizations—GONGOs. Unlike early environmental
groups in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe, however, so far Friends of
Nature has not gained a rush of members who utilize it as a way to express
opposition to the Communist government. It concentrates on innocu-
ous activities like protecting endangered species such as the snub-nosed
monkey and the Tibetan antelope. Through education it tries to encour-
age a “green culture” of recycling and energy conservation. Global Village
Beijing focuses on the urban environment. Founded in 1996 by Liao
Xiaoyi, the group eschews political activism. It has produced television
programs, promotes recycling, and runs a model community. When the
government declined to register it, Liao registered it as a business.
Some NGOs have thin support. For example, the International Fund
for China's Environment seems to exist solely as a conduit for American
grants. It lists its functions as promoting new technologies as well as edu-
cation and cooperation. Its small staff shares its offices with an invest-
ment consulting company. Unlike most NGOs, it has branches, in this
case in Shanghai, Yunnan, Shenzhen, Wuhan, and Tianjin, as well as
Washington, DC. Funds have come from the US Department of State and
EPA, the Ford Foundation, and private companies. It is sponsored by a
Chinese government agency.
Chinese affiliates of international groups barely exist. One exception is
WWF, which began a program in 1980 to protect the giant pandas, now
the official symbol of the parent organization. For the first 15 years, it did
not have an office in the PRC. Staff was located first in Switzerland and
later in Hong Kong. However, in 1995 it was allowed to establish a local
office. Its governmental sponsor is the Forestry Ministry. Now it has a bus-
tling office of 30 staff located next to the Imperial Palace in Beijing. It also
has a branch office located in Chengdu to be close to the Panda Breeding
Center and the Wolong Panda Reserve in Sichuan. This is a rare excep-
tion to the PRC policy of not permitting branches or affiliates. In addi-
tion WWF has projects on other rare animals, forests, and the Yangtze