As two of the world’s major civilizations, China and Europe's mutual learning in philanthropy and public welfare is of great importance to addressing pressing global challenges and promoting cooperation and prosperity in an joint effort as mankind encounters profound changes never seen in the past century.

Leaders from both China and Europe highly value such a practice. On March 23, 2019, at a ceremony witnessed by Chinese President Xi Jinping and Italian Prime Minister Conte, a ”Memorandum of Understanding on Establishing a China-Italy Philanthropy Forum” was signed.

This memorandum is the only philanthropic cooperation of the 19 cooperative contracting projects whose signings were witnessed by the leadership of two countries, and also philanthropy communication at the highest level between the two countries.

This is a masterpiece of innovation in China-Europe private exchanges.

In spite of this important progress, difficulties and challenges still exist in private exchanges between China and Europe.

The immense diversity of the European countries means that their governments have different and an un-coordinated stance towards private organizations participating in international affairs. And there are also divergent views in China on the issue and the issue of how private charities could play a positive role. Meanwhile, there is a gap in international engagement and a mismatch of information between Chinese and European NGOs.

Leaders of Chinese NGOs often do not have the required international vision for globalization, do not have enough knowledge of their European counterparts and do not have adequate mastery of cooperation model, fund management and operation mechanism.

On the other hand, European NGOs often do not have a basic and objective understanding of the rapid development of their Chinese counterparts and their research on China's rising internet fund-raising, besides the problems with transparency of Chinese NGOs.

Also, Chinese NGOs are not professional enough to integrate the operation of international cooperation into their governance system, and the management people do not have enough skills for international cooperation.

In contrast, European NGOs have already entered the stage of specialized issues like environment, human rights, culture and climate change.

This represents a huge gap between the two partners.

Based on the above, what we should do is to get a sober understanding of the differences and gaps, learn from international experience and seek common ground while reserving differences.

China and Europe should get an overall picture of all the scattered cooperation programs, conduct necessary research and make effective arrangements to proceed.

The two sides should also promote public participation and initiatives to take private cooperation between Chinese and European governments and companies to a higher level.

Chinese and European governments should also sign facilitating bilateral agreements to encourage private forces into bilateral cooperation. And the cooperative mechanism between the China Economic and Social Council and the European Economic and Social Council is one good example.

An interaction mechanism for Chinese and European NGOs should also be put in place for greater synergy. And at the current stage, we recommend the model of governments procuring service from NGOs. So, part of the official development aid can be used for NGOs taking part in international affairs.

Also, following the procedures of purchasing services, governments can select some outstanding NGOs to join government aid projects.

This way, they will accumulate experience and establish a win-win China-Europe cooperative partnership, laying a solid foundation for cooperation across the board in the future.

A special foundation for China-Europe private cooperation should also be established to get engaged in international trade associations, identify research plans, train professionals and conduct systematic and targeted private cooperation.

All in all, private diplomacy between China and Europe is still at an initial stage. But a chance for rapid development is just around the corner. The key to grasping this chance lies in the NGOs strengthening their capabilities, gaining international experience and joining hands with governments, companies, media and the academic community to shape an architecture of mutual support and common development.

Huang Haoming is deputy director and professor of China Global Philanthropy Institute.

The author contributed this article to China Watch exclusively. The views expressed do not necessarily reflect those of China Watch.

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