NGOs' role in unrest questioned

Observers have questioned the role played by US-based NGOs like the National Endowment for Democracy and its associated agencies in the recent social unrest and violent protests in Hong Kong, saying their operations in the city in recent decades "paved way in a solid manner" for chaos.

Zhao Kejin, deputy dean of School of Social Studies at Tsinghua University and a senior expert on US studies, said that since 1995, the United States had supported and cultivated opposition agencies and figures, and promoted "democracy buildup" through organizations such as the NED.

"And every time massive protests took place in Hong Kong, Washington was fueling the situation, and agencies related to the US were offering support and funds... This is one of the root causes of today's increasing chaos in Hong Kong," Zhao told reporters at a symposium earlier this month in Beijing.

Earlier this year, Christopher Walker, vice-president of NED, said in a testimony before the US House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, which was published on May 16, that the NED and its associated agencies "have set in motion a response to multifaceted challenges" posed by China.

In May, the NED headquarters hosted an event, inviting opposition leaders who led or supported past protests in the city to talk about "new threats to civil society and rule of law in Hong Kong".

Some of those who attended the event included Martin Lee, an opposition leader, and Nathan Law Kwun-chung. Lee was a 1997 recipient of NED's Democracy Award.

Law was convicted in 2016 for incitement over besieging of the SAR government headquarters in September 2014. He said in his Facebook earlier this month he had arrived in New York for further studies at Yale University.

In May 2016, reacting to a report in Japan's Asahi Shimbun newspaper about the NED funding anti-China organizations, such as those supporting "Tibet independence", Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said: "No country would allow any foreign NGO to embark on operations that damage its security and social stability."

Li Haidong, a professor of US studies at China Foreign Affairs University, said that organizations such as the NED are not purely focused on social activities. Some of its operations "bear strong political motives", said Li.

In May, Christopher Walker told the committee on intelligence that the National Democratic Institute for International Affairs, an NGO, "conducts a number of initiatives that address China's exertion of authoritarian influence".

Walker also said that in Hong Kong, the NDI "conducted a series of missions regarding the development of Hong Kong's constitutional and electoral framework, the enforcement of rule of law and civil liberties, and prospects for Hong Kong's democratization".

The introduction page of NED's official website lists the NDI as one of its "core grantees".

Another page showing where the NED funds were used in Hong Kong last year says $200,000 was granted to the NDI in 2018 "to facilitate engagement on Hong Kong's growing threats to guaranteed rights" and "facilitate international advocacy for Hong Kong scholars, legal practitioners, and civil society leaders to raise awareness of recent developments".

Li Haidong, the CFAU professor, said such agencies may claim they are engaged in helping the local residents address livelihood issues and promote governance, but their long-term goal is to convert local communities into those following American democracy patterns.

Zhao Kejin, the Tsinghua University scholar, said it is important to "eliminate the mindset of colonizers and Cold War thinking" upheld in countries such as the US.

Such countries should not take advantage of liberties offered by the Asian financial hub, Zhao said.