China Will Not Relax Its One-Child Policy
By: Administrative Account | Source: CNSNews.com
May 2, 2006 6:17AM EST

By Patrick Goodenough
CNSNews.com International Editor
May 02, 2006

(CNSNews.com) - China has no plans to relax its coercive population control policies, the official in charge of the government's family-size limitation program has confirmed.

Beijing will continue to reward couples who comply with the restrictions and punish those who violate the norms, the Xinhua news agency quoted Population and Family Planning Commission head Zhang Weiqing as saying in an interview with Qiushi magazine, a Communist Party mouthpiece.

Under a controversial "one child" policy introduced in the 1970s, the government pressures couples to have only one child. Exceptions are made in some cases: Members of ethnic minorities or rural inhabitants may have a second child if their firstborn is a girl.

The policy has been implemented by means of financial incentives and punitive fines. According to the U.S. government, it also has been enforced by forced abortion and sterilization.

Washington has for the past four years withheld funding from the U.N. Population Fund (UNFPA) because of its links to the Chinese program. U.S. law prohibits funding for any agency that "supports or participates in the management of a program of coercive abortion or involuntary sterilization."

In the interview, Zhang also addressed the problem of wealthy Chinese who violated the one-child norm because they were not deterred by large fines.

The government will take serious steps against such people, he said, as all people were equal before the law.

For cultural and economic reasons, Chinese society favors boys over girls.

Despite official efforts in recent years to clamp down on sex-selective abortions, they reportedly are still taking place. Some couples restricted to having just one child are using ultrasound technology to establish the baby's gender in the womb, and then aborting girls.

The result of this is evident in the increasingly lopsided ratio of boys to girls in China.

Demographers regard the international norm to be 103-107 boys for every 100 girls. In China, the ratio now stands at 117-120 boys for 100 girls.

Zhang called for the passage of legislation to outlaw the identification of a baby's gender for any non-medical purpose.

Xinhua said a draft amendment had been submitted to China's legislature providing for jail terms and fines for violators, but lawmakers were divided over the practicalities of enforcing such a law.

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