China tells schools to cut ties with relief agency Oxfam, says it has hidden political agenda

China tells schools to shun relief agency Oxfam

BEIJING — China is telling schools to sever all ties with the international relief agency Oxfam and bar its campus recruitment efforts, accusing the group’s Hong Kong branch of having a hidden political agenda.

Oxfam Hong Kong — which oversees the group’s mainland China operations — is a “non-governmental organization seeking to infiltrate our interior,” according to a notice attributed to the Education Ministry seen Tuesday on a job services Web site hosted by Beijing’s Minzu University.

It called the group’s chairman, public affairs consultant Lo Chi-kin, a “stalwart of the opposition faction,” employing language more commonly associated with communist political struggles of the past.

The statement gave few details of the allegations against Oxfam, which has operated in mainland China for 20 years and works in cooperation with the government’s poverty alleviation department.

China’s authoritarian communist government remains deeply suspicious of most independent social organizations outside its direct control and sets strict limits on activities of international NGOs.

Oxfam Hong Kong’s China Unit Director Howard Liu said the agency has never done anything to challenge Beijing’s policies or laws and is only interested in alleviating poverty. He added that the notice appears to refer specifically to an internship program that places social work majors from Chinese universities at NGOs.

Messages left for Lo at his office weren’t immediately returned.

The charge against Lo was apparently directed at his membership in Hong Kong’s Democratic Party, which advocates direct elections and other political reforms opposed by Beijing. China took control of the former British colony in 1997 but allows it to retain its own legal, economic and political systems.

However, Democratic Party legislator James To said Lo was viewed as a moderate with ties to China and not part of the party’s core leadership.

“We are shocked by the accusations,” To said.

Oxfam Hong Kong board members also include prominent pro-Beijing figures, including former Secretary of Justice Elsie Leung and Bernard Chan, a member of China’s national parliament.

Only a handful of well-funded and politically prominent organizations, such as the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, have met the financial and administrative requirements to register in China. Similar organizations that lack such clout have in the past found themselves suddenly banned after operating for years, with no clear reason given.

“The government is wary of these kind of organizations establishing themselves without direct supervision,” said Shawn Shieh, a visiting scholar in Beijing who researches Chinese NGOs.

The ministry statement, dated Feb. 4, ordered schools to sever all ties and cooperation with Oxfam. School administrators must ban all campus volunteer recruitment efforts run by the group’s Hong Kong office, the statement said.

“All education departments and institutions of higher education must raise their guard and together recognize and take precautions against the unfriendly intentions of Oxfam Hong Kong’s recruitment of college volunteers,” it said.

A receptionist at Minzu University said all staff were on leave until Thursday, and the Education Ministry did not immediately reply to a list of faxed questions. The statement was taken down from Minzu’s site shortly after the school was contacted, a possible indication it was an internal notification not intended to be made public.

Oxfam — a confederation of 14 national organizations that works in about 100 countries — was founded in Britain in 1942.

Associated Press writer Min Lee in Hong Kong contributed to this report.

On the ‘Net:

Oxfam International: www.oxfam.org