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Globalization and Health
Published in: Globalization and Health 1/2018

Open Access 01-12-2018 | Research

Securitizing HIV/AIDS: a game changer in state-societal relations in China?

Author: Catherine Yuk-ping Lo

Published in: Globalization and Health | Issue 1/2018

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Abstract

Background

China has experienced unprecedented economic growth since the 1980s. Despite this impressive economic development, this growth exists side by side with the human immunodeficiency virus/acquired immune deficiency syndrome (HIV/AIDS) and severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) crises and the persisting deficiencies in public health provision in China. Acknowledging the prevailing health problems, the Chinese government has encouraged the development of health non-governmental organizations (NGOs) to respond to the health challenges and address the gaps in public health provision of the government. HIV/AIDS-focused NGOs have been perceived as the most outstanding civil society group developed in China. Considering the low priority of health policies since the economic reform, the limitation of the “third sector” activity permitted in authoritarian China, together with the political sensitivity of the HIV/AIDS problem in the country, this article aims to explain the proliferation of HIV/AIDS-focused NGOs in China with the usage of the securitization framework in the field of international relations (IR).

Methods

The research that underpins this article is based on a desk-based literature review as well as in-depth field interviews with individuals working in HIV/AIDS-focused NGOs in China. Face-to-face interviews for this research were conducted between January and May in 2011, and between December 2016 and January 2017, in China. Discourse analysis was in particular employed in the study of the security-threat framing process (securitization) of HIV/AIDS in China.

Results

This article argues that the proliferation of HIV/AIDS-related NGOs in China is largely attributed to the normative and technical effects of HIV/AIDS securitization ushered in by the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) and supported by the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria (hereinafter Global Fund) observed in China. Despite depicting a positive scenario, the development of HIV/AIDS-focused NGOs in China generated by the international securitization efforts is largely limited. An internal and external factor was identified to verify the argument, namely (1) the reduction of international financial commitments, as well as (2) the fragmentation of HIV/AIDS-focused NGO community in China.

Conclusions

This article shows that international securitization weakened with the rise of Chinese commitment on HIV/AIDS interventions. In other words, HIV/AIDS-related responses delivered by the national government are no longer checked by the global mechanism of HIV/AIDS; thus it is unclear whether these NGOs would remain of interest as partners for the government. The fragmentation of the HIV/AIDS community would further hinder the development, preventing from NGOs with the same interest forming alliances to call for changes in current political environment. Such restriction on the concerted efforts of HIV/AIDS-related NGOs in China would make achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to foster stronger partnerships between the government and civil society difficult, which in turn hindering the realization of ending HIV/AIDS in the world by 2030.
Footnotes
1
Here NGOs does not include government-organized non-governmental organizations (GONGOs).
 
2
Referent objects refer to “things that are seen to be existentially threatened and that have a legitimate claim to survival.” See Buzan B et al., Security: A New Framework for Analysis, p. 36.
 
3
“Civil society” is often translated as “Minjian shehui”, “Shiming Shehui” and “Gongming Shehui” in Chinese. In fact, the three different Chinese terms do not have the same meaning. Many scholars actually use these different Chinese terms of civil society simultaneously. “Minjian shehui” is used in this article because the term is widely used in the academic research in China’s modern civil organizations. “Civil society” in this article refers to a sphere that is conceptually separable from the state and government.
 
4
At the same time the State Council abolished the Jijin guanli banfa stipulated in 1988.
 
5
The Chinese and English versions of the revised regulation (2016) can be found in Chinalawinfo. “Regulation on Registration and Administration of Social Organizations (2016) (Shehui tuanti dengji guanli tiaoli).
 
6
Nevertheless, grassroots NGOs registered under the MOIC also encounter problems with regard to the amount and source of funding. As registered commercial entities, grassroots NGOs are required to pay a 5 % tax on any revenue, even for funding received for non-profit purposes.
 
7
In recent years, the abovementioned legislative hurdle in NGO registration has been relaxed in some parts of China, first in Shenzhen and then in Beijing. The local government in these two cities relaxed its NGO registration rule, and allowed NGOs in the fields of business, charity, welfare, and social services to register directly with the MOCA. Such a move can also be observed at the national level. In early 2011, the national government started planning to revise the regulations on NGO registration and management. If the revised version is passed by the State Council, the individual-organized or grassroots NGOs can directly register with the MOCA without seeking a supervisory body prior to the registration.
 
8
It is noted that the author is fully aware of the arguments put forward by Timothy Hildebrandt, stating Chinese NGOs could be favored or cracked down by the state apparatus irrespective of registration status. The author is argued that unregistered NGOs are comparatively easier to be targeted and cracked down by the government officials in the name of “unlawful organizations”. For Hildebrandt’s argument, see Hildebrandt, T. The Political Economy of Social Organization Registration in China. The China Quarterly. 2011;208:970–89.
 
9
GONGOs are composed of three types of organizations existed in the 1950s and 1960s: (1) private organizations from the “old China”; (2) friendship associations for the promotion of trade, and cultural exchange agencies; and (3) people’s organizations and mass organizations.
 
10
In the course of the meeting, US Vice President Al Gore claimed that HIV/AIDS was a security threat because “It threatens not just individual citizens, but the very institutions that define and defend the character of a society. The disease weakens workforces and saps economic strength. HIV/AIDS strikes at teachers, and denies education to their students. It strikes at the military, and subverts the forces of order and peacekeeping”.
 
11
McInnes and Rushton (2010) argued that the HIV/AIDS securitization in 2000 was not a successful or complete securitization. However, this article does not intend to examine whether the international HIV/AIDS securitization has been fully accepted by the target audience. It intends to examine the influences of the HIV/AIDS international securitization on the national and sub-national levels in China.
 
12
In 2003, the Bush Administration launched the President’s Plan for Emergency AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), pledging US$15 billion from 2003 to 2008 to “turn the tide against HIV/AIDS.” The WHO launched the “3 × 5” campaign that targets getting 3 million people on antiretroviral treatment by 2005, while the Multi-Country HIV/AIDS Program of the World Bank provided more than US$1.3 billion for grants and concessional loans to help governments respond to HIV/AIDS issues.
 
13
Examples included the Indian Network of People Living with HIV/AIDS, Thai Network of People Living with HIV/AIDS, Asia Pacific Council of AIDS Service Organization in Malaysia, and also Action for AIDS Singapore,
 
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Metadata
Title
Securitizing HIV/AIDS: a game changer in state-societal relations in China?
Author
Catherine Yuk-ping Lo
Publication date
01-12-2018
Publisher
BioMed Central
Published in
Globalization and Health / Issue 1/2018
Electronic ISSN: 1744-8603
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1186/s12992-018-0364-7

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