As reported by the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, on July 4, Beijing municipal police raided the Beijing office of China Development Brief, an independent publication about China’s social development and civil society that has been operating since 1996. Both the English and Chinese versions of the publication have been banned following the charge of illegal publishing against the Chinese version.
The China Development Brief has been a major source of socio-environmental news in China and a key way for non-governmental organizations in China to communicate.
Nick Young, the founding editor who contributes regularly to the English edition, has been deemed guilty of conducting “unauthorized surveys” under the 1989 Statistics Law and now faces possible deportation. Over the past 27 years that international non-governmental organizations (NGOs) have been operating in China, this is a rare instance of such an NGO being shut down.
International media watchdog, the Vienna-based International Press Institute, said in a letter sent to Chinese President Hu Jintao that it was “deeply concerned at restrictions imposed on civil liberties and free expression in China. The closure of the newsletter, which publishes both Chinese and English-language versions, comes amid efforts to limit dissent ahead of a sensitive party congress later this year.”
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To read an article in the Christian Science Monitor, click here.
Greengrants China Coordinator, Wen Bo, notes that this is just one in a recent spate of actions to crack down on activists in the light of the upcoming Olymic games in Beijing.
Wen Bo also notes that government respression can lead to decreased funding by Western NGOs to local Chinese socio-environmental organizations—making even more important to make sure that funding reaches those in need.