China has passed a law to tighten controls over foreign non-governmental organisations by subjecting them to close police supervision.
It is seen as the latest move by authorities to clamp down on perceived threats to national security.
The law, adopted by the national legislature, states that foreign NGOs must not endanger China's national security and ethnic unity. It grants police the power to question administrators, search residences and facilities and seize files and equipment.
Beijing's move to pass such a law has drawn criticism from US and European officials and business and academic organisations. They are concerned it would severely restrict the operations of a wide range of groups, further limiting the growth of civil society in China and hindering non-governmental exchanges between China and the rest of the world.
The law includes a clause that allows police to blacklist "unwelcome" groups and prevent them from operating in the country.
Such groups are deemed to have committed violations ranging from illegally obtaining unspecified state secrets to "spreading rumours, slandering or otherwise expressing or disseminating harmful information that endangers state security".
The Network of Chinese Human Rights Defenders denounced the law as "draconian", saying it allows police to exercise "daily supervision and monitoring" of overseas NGOs. The law will have "a profoundly detrimental impact on civil society in China", it said.
Many overseas organisations have partnered with Chinese academic and social groups, but still operate in a legally grey area that leaves them vulnerable to crackdowns by security forces.
In one recent example, China in January released and immediately deported a Swedish man it accused of training and funding unlicensed lawyers in the country.
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