Members may join registered clubs only; are banned from foreign NGOs

Chinese military personnel may join only registered clubs, and are banned from participation in nongovernmental organizations based overseas unless assigned to do so, according to a recent management rule adopted by the People's Liberation Army.

Organizations for members of the military are required to be registered, but unregistered groups have cropped up. When forced to register, many of those groups are unlikely to be approved and will be broken up, observers say.