Expert French Sinologist Gives Guest Lecture to SIPA on Foreign NGOs in China
2015/3/27 10:16:56
On March 26th French sinologist, Dr. Gilles Guiheux, an expert on Chinese 2nd and 3rd sector analysis from Paris Diderot University, was invited by the School of International Public Affairs at SJTU to give a guest lecture on the activities of a French NGO (Doctors Without Borders) on the Chinese mainland. Dr. Zhang Junhua, SIPA Director of International Master’s Degree Program and Professor of Political Science, warmly welcomed Dr. Guiheux and introduced his body of work. Dr. Guiheux’s lecture “Universalistic Humanitarianism in Mainland China: A case study of a French NGO” outlined the historical relationship between the French NGO’s history of intervention around the world in times of need and their founding framework and the need to respect Chinese sovereignty. He illustrated the conflict between the NGOs mission and historical tradition with Chinese laws and norms for international NGOs.
In the lecture, he argued that in order for the NGO to maintain a high level of success in their efforts while maintaining their tradition of applying assistance directly rather than though a Chinese proxy they needed to localize their operations to a Chinese context. Having built their experience in Africa, the NGO was unexperienced with interacting and working with such a strong and developed state as China, which led to some initial missteps in the relationship.
After gaining more experience Doctors Without Borders was able to establish a more long-term program in some rural regions of the country. By being willing to negotiate the terms of their assistance with the state they were able to successfully operate in China.
Following the lecture Dr. Zhang provided some additional comments on the nature and need for NGOs to understand the role of sovereignty in regards to operating in China. The lecture was well attended by both undergraduate and graduate students from various SIPA programs. Following the lecture the students were able to raise methodological, theoretical, and factual concerns and questions with the visiting scholar in an open forum of discussion.