largely dormant. Political participation among China’s private entrepreneurs is
focused on narrow business interests and is defensive in character, with
limited potential for collective political actions. At present, the economic
resources at the disposal of the rising middle class provide them with
increasing access to various informal channels of participation. While these
channels do serve to promote elite societal interests to various extents, they
also reduce the incentive for the bourgeoisie to demand institutionalized
participation.^82 Yet as noted above, China’s growing wealth (and middle class)
supply the personnel and an increasing share of the financial resources used by
ENGOs.
CONCLUSIONS: COMPARISONS OF ENGOS IN
TAIWAN AND CHINA
The interaction between the state and society is embedded in the special
political environment of China, which differs significantly from Taiwan after
60 years of independent development. Given the problem of registering as a
social organization, many NGOs dress in camouflage. There are several ways
of doing this: register as an enterprise or as a subsidiary organization under a
façade institution; establish an informal ‘club’ or ‘salon’; or avoid registration
altogether. Social associations that are formally registered are generally
organized by those with strong connections to the government. As mentioned,
many government institutions have set up GONGOs, partly to devolve certain
government functions to the market as a result of budgetary pressures, and
partly in order to attract foreign funding.^83
The emergence of Chinese NGOs implies the rise of a public sphere, and
new forms of state-society interaction. Generally, the participation of
registered social organizations in the policy process takes the form of invited
consultation and comments on policy changes, including drafting and
amendments of relevant regulations and laws. Participation typically is
initiated from above rather than from below. However, governance processes
in China increasingly are fragmented, localized, and untidy, despite continuing
attempts by the central party-state to exercise macro control. The restructuring
of state organizations in the late 1990s has reduced the capacity of officials to
monitor social organizations, while local officials are willing to be lax about
the implementation of regulations where the activities of non-registered
groups benefit local development.^84
A core issue to Chinese NGOs is their degree of autonomy. A few influential
organizations remain under the control of the government and the Communist
Party in terms of financial and personnel resources and decision making. At
the same time, seemingly independent organizations have emerged in large
ENGOs, civil society and biodiversity conservation 185