The Crackdown on Rights-Advocacy NGOs in Xi’s China: Politicizing the Law and Legalizing the Repression

Abstract

This article is the first to systematically study and compare the criminal repression of civic NGOs under the rule of Hu Jintao and Xi Jinping. The crackdown is analyzed against the evolution of NGO governance strategy that has bifurcated into co-option and repression. Under Xi’s administration, the mode of repression has escalated from hooligan-style intimidation to law-based systematic crackdown, facilitated by an increasingly authoritarian legality. Both the political and technical dimensions of the law have been enhanced to facilitate its repression and control of civil society, and a new Chinese version of thick rule of law is looming. Underlying this escalation is the paradigm shift of governance strategy from “maintaining social stability” to “consolidating state security.” Consequently, advocacy NGOs with evident pro-liberal inclination, mass mobilization capacities, and/or closer associations with “hostile forces” are most vulnerable to persecution. This article concludes by gauging the impact of the crackdown on advocacy NGOs and suggesting possible scenarios for future rights activism.