'It's time'

Now the connections issue seems on the way out.

Dou, the Civil Affairs vice-minister, didn't provide a timetable last week for enactment of a new regulation. "It's still under revision and discussion at the State Council."

But the ministry has been working toward a revision of the registration rules since 2009. Last year, the Beijing government issued trial policies that allow social organizations to register without a government agency's affiliation in certain districts, such as the Zhongguancun area.

In late May, the Geneva-based Global Fund, which supports global disease intervention, suspended grant payments to China for reasons including the government's inadequate efforts to solicit help from civil societies.

Health Minister Chen Zhu, in response, told a conference in Yunnan in June that the ministry would try to help civil societies that work in HIV/AIDS control. He said they "play an indispensable role in reaching sufferers to carry out intervention efforts in a human-oriented approach".

Sidibe, the UNAIDS director, says: "Such organizations in China remain at an early stage of development and need several things if they are to be able to play a more meaningful role in China's HIV response." Those needs, he said, include being "able to register legally and gain access to funding, which would allow them to operate in a sustainable way (and) scale up their services to meet demand."

"It's time to involve grassroots power in charity works," says Wang Zhenyao, chief of Beijing Normal University's One Foundation Community Research Institute. "It's unrealistic for the government to take care of everything."

He Dan contributed to this story.