China wants gradual shift away from its one-child policy
BEIJING: China is studying how to move away from its controversial one-child policy, but any changes would come gradually and would not mean an elimination of family-planning policies, a senior official said Thursday.
Zhao Baige, vice minister of the National Population and Family Planning Commission, said that government officials recognized that China must alter its current population policies.
"We want incrementally to have this change," Zhao said, according to Reuters. "I cannot answer at what time or how, but this has become a big issue among decision makers."
With more than 1.3 billion people, China is the world's most populous nation and is home to one of the world's most stringent family-planning regimens. Most urban couples are limited to a single child, while farmers usually can have two. Minorities often are allowed to have two or more children.
For more than three decades, the policy has been a centerpiece of government economic and social policy.
Local officials receive performance ratings based partly on how well residents adhere to the restrictions, and scandals over forced abortions have periodically arisen. The policy has also exacerbated an imbalance in the births of boys and girls as many families have used selective abortions to insure the birth of a son.
Chinese officials have sought to curb the excesses and inequities and have argued that the policy has prevented roughly 400 million births and allowed the country to prosper and better live within its resources.
But China's fertility rate is now extremely low, and the country's population is aging rapidly, especially in urban areas. Experts have warned that China is steadily moving toward a demographic crisis with too many old people in need of expensive services and too few young workers paying taxes to meet those bills. China is often regarded as having a limitless pool of young, cheap labor, but the country's biggest manufacturing centers have faced labor shortages in recent years.
Some of the biggest cities, like Shanghai, have tried to make small tweaks in the policy to spur more births. Nationally, the policy now allows urban couples to have two children if both spouses are themselves from one-child families. But officials have resisted any major policy changes out of fears that a major population boom might follow. In recent months, Chinese officials have pledged to crack down on rich couples that use their money or influence to disobey the policy.
Zhao said surveys indicated that a strong majority of younger Chinese would like two children. But she warned that current plans only called for studying potential changes and that no adjustments would be allowed to cause a rapid jump in the birth rate.
Zhao's comments come less than a week before the annual meeting of the National People's Congress, the Communist Party-controlled legislative body. China is also trying to soften its human rights image as Beijing prepares to play host to the Olympics in August.
中国国家人口与计划生育委员会副主任赵白鸽女士对媒体表示，由于老龄化问题看来已经迫在眉睫，中国政府方面正在考虑对一对夫妇只能生一个孩子的规定做一些变动，但是计划生育作为整个政策，还会存在。
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中国负责人口以及计划生育的一位官员表示，中国的独生子女政策有可能出现一些变动。中国国家人口与计划生育委员会副主任赵白鸽女士对媒体表示，由于老龄化问题看来已经迫在眉睫，中国政府方面正在考虑对一对夫妇只能生一个孩子的规定做一些变动，但是计划生育作为整个政策，还会存在。 (w2008-02-28-voa50.cfm)
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