Mainland NGOs are decrying Guangdong's lead as the first province to ease registration requirements as a limited move, despite kudos from Beijing and pro-government academics.
Li Liguo, the minister for civil affairs, said the other provinces would follow Guangdong in doing so, Caixin Media reported. Last November, Guangdong said it would allow NGOs to directly register with the civil affairs ministry from July 1.
NGOs previously had to find a government department to act as a patron before they were able to register. Due to the rigorous rules, more than 1 million NGOs are not registered, according to Li.
However, easing the registration rules would 'largely encourage society's vitality and enhance its functions', Li said.
Official figures show that only 460,000 NGOs are registered.
Beijing has been tightly regulating the NGO community because of its suspicions about foreign-funded and rights lobby groups. As such, it is difficult for NGOs to find government patrons, as they would be held responsible for the NGOs' misdeeds.
NGOs that are unable to find government patrons have to save enough funds to register as companies or suffer the legal consequences.