Twinning: Partnerships between Chinese and European NGOs - Green Financing - Right to Clean Water - Human Rights - Urban Youth Culture - Social Inclusion

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Abstract

The promotion of an NGO exchange program to build long-term partnerships has thus far been neglected. When Stiftung Asienhaus first applied for funding to support an NGO internship exchange program in 2005, no donors appeared interested in the topic of civil society. At that time, China was facing heavy criticism, and there were doubts about an emerging “civil society” in China. The headlines of European newspapers, especially those in Germany –had been full of biased Chinabashing images. On the EU-level, civil society remained a sensitive term: In 2006, the EU-China Summit decided to set up a Civil Society Roundtable. It was established in June 2007 in Beijing but renamed for unknown reasons into EU-China Roundtable. The roundtable claimed to act as an advisory body to the EU Commission, the arliament, and the Council of Ministers. In 2010, the general attitude towards civil society and NGOs changed substantially. With EuropeAid’s new call for proposals on the topic “EU-China Civil Society Dialogue” beginning in February 2010, Brussels suddenly embraced the term civil society and wanted to “support the consolidation of a structured ongoing dialogue between European and Chinese civil societies”. When the EU decided to spend money on civil society dialogue programs, the term civil society had already become a trendy buzzword in EU policy towards China. The development of a healthy civil society was not only seen as being responsible for developing the fundamental element of a democratic culture, but its failures or weaknesses are also held responsible for horrible developments like the German fascism.