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

Lo, Catherine Yuk-ping

The determination of the Chinese government to resolve the suspension of the Global Fund was observed in the course of fieldwork research. During a face-to-face interview inside the office building of the Ministry of Health (renamed National Health and Family Planning Commission in 2013) in May 2011, the respondent told the investigator "the representatives of the Chinese government and the Global Fund representatives are meeting upstairs to negotiate for the resumption of the 2011 grants" (CCDC/NHFPC-2). The dispute was eventually resolved; the Chinese government promised to allocate at least 25% of the Global Fund grant to NGO work [59] . In this regard, the Global Fund mechanism contributed to the political and financial supports of NGOs, thereby resulting in the proliferation of HIV/AIDS-specific grassroots NGOs in China, and also the proactive involvement of NGOs in national HIV/AIDS undertakings. In other words, international securitization altered the HIV/AIDS policy in China, allowing numerous grassroots-level NGOs working on HIV/AIDS to grow in a prevailing political system with "bounded autonomy". An injecting drug use self-help group leader believed the upsurge in the involvement of civil society also resulted in the improvement of state-societal relations, stating, "In the past, the relationship with the government was not good, but it becomes much better now. The government sent officials to visit our center to learn the management strategy of our organization" (self-help group-1). Another NGO interviewee in Beijing also claimed that "an increase in the acceptance of the government, especially the Ministry of Health, on grassroots NGOs, [is observed in China] . The Ministry of Health does open the opportunity for NGOs to cooperate with the government" (advocacy group-2). Having said that the improvement of state-societal relations, it is noted that the Chinese state is not a monolithic actor, but a conglomeration of departments and officials with competing and sometimes conflicting agendas in the national and sub-national levels [22] . A Beijing NGO leader pinpointed this phenomenon, stating, "The Ministry of Health is fine to cooperate with those NGOs that can help, regardless of whom. However, state security bureau usually holds a relatively hostile view on the existence of grassroots NGOs since the bureau is concerned about social stability" (advocacy group-2).