Optimistic outlook on government attitudes to social organizations as 18th Party Congress approaches
Professor Wang Ming of Tsinghua University’s NGO Research Center, and a member of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference was optimistic about the government’s attitude towards social organizations as the 18th Party Congress was convening. He has seen a change in the government’s position during the 17th Party Congress (2007) when emphasis was given to the “development and management of social organizations.”
The 18th Party Congress has continued the emphasis on promoting the healthy and orderly development of social organizations, and the role of the public in social organization management. Professor Wang also said that for the first time, the 18th Party Congress report placed equal stress on improving people’s livelihood and social management innovation. In the past, people have had mistaken views of “social management innovation” thinking it means strengthening management and control and “improving people’s livelihood” means “stability maintenance”. But the reality is that the end goal of social management innovation is to improve people’s livelihood and therefore it must be carried on behalf of ordinary people.
