Xinhua New Agency reported on September 28 that the General Office of CPC Central Committee recently published the “Opinion on Enhancing Party Building Work in Social Organizations (trial) (关于加强社会组织党的建设工作的意见（试行）)”. NGOs (or “social organizations”, 社会组织）were first required to establish Party Groups by “The Communist Party of China’s Party Organizations’ Working Regulations (trial)” which was passed on May 29th 2015 (see CDB news here). According to the report, the fundamental aim of the Opinion is to enhance CPC’s leadership among NGOs, and the Opinion stipulates that the Party Groups within NGOs must act as the political nucleus.
The Opinion gives clear guidance on the management mechanism of NGO Party groups. For instance, the Party Group of a national-scale NGO falls into the administration of the Work Committee of Departments under the CPC Central Committee (中央直属机关工委), the Work Committee for State Organs(中央国家机关工委), and the Party Committee of State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission of the State Council(国务院国资委党委). With regard to expanding coverage of Party Groups, the Opinion upholds the principle to establish NGO Party Groups whenever and wherever possible. It states that there can be three categories of party groups: organizational level, industrial level, and regional level. For NGOs that are currently unable to build a Party Group, Party members should be sent to prepare them for future establishment.
