China-focused NGOs reel from U.S. foreign funding freeze

Suspension of grants risks making heavily censored country more opaque

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Hong Kong demonstrators wave an American flag in November 2019, before China imposed a strict national security law on the city. U.S. funding is a critical lifeline for NGOs that focus on China's human rights record in Hong Kong, as well as Tibet and Xinjiang. © Reuters

PAK YIU

NEW YORK -- China-related research crucial to understanding one of the most heavily censored countries in the world is under threat from the Donald Trump administration's freeze on foreign aid programs and grants.

There are dozens of China-focused nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) that conduct research and other work -- from tracking labor conditions and documenting human rights abuses against Hong Kongers, Uyghurs and Tibetans, to tracking Chinese media censorship and supporting civil society in China. Many groups Nikkei Asia spoke with said they have been furloughing staff and shutting down campaigns and programs.

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