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Healthcare Prof:
5 (1 votes)
Recent violent clashes between police and in southwest China’s Guangxi province more than a campaign to enforce penalties, such as fines and forced abortion, for couples who violate China’s one-child-per-family policy has prompted nearby officials to ease “tough measures,” officials stated on Wednesday, Reuters AlertNet reports. Officials added that they are going to continue efforts to curb population growth (Buckley, Reuters AlertNet, 5/23).
China’s one-child-per-family policy seeks to keep the country’s population, now 1.3 billion, at about 1.7 billion by 2050. Strategies of enforcing the policy, like fines and function demotions, vary among Chinese provinces and cities. Dozens of girls in southwest China last month reported being forced to undergo abortions as late as nine months into their pregnancies. Some women from Guangxi stated they were forced to have abortions since they were unmarried, even though other girls had been married and pregnant with their second child.
The Bobai county government in Guangxi lately increased fines for people that violate the policy and have been seizing or destroying the property of people who can’t pay the fines. Many individuals have stated Guangxi officials have issued fines from 500 yuan, or about $65, to 70,000 yuan, or about $9,000, on families who violated the policy at any time since 1980. Some people said the fine, referred to as a “social child-raising fee,” was collected regardless of the reality most violators with the policy had already paid a fine. If violators failed to pay the fine inside three days, their properties would be destroyed and their belongings seized.
Residents of Guangxi lately attacked loved ones preparing officials, overturned vehicles and set fire to government buildings. Witnesses and Hong Kong media reported on Monday that riot police entered a minimum of four towns inside the province (Kaiser Everyday Women’s Well being Policy Report, 5/22). Based on Xinhua News Agency, 28 residents had been detained and are suspected of passing on particulars of the demonstration, as well as instigating and participating within the riots, the AP/International Herald Tribune reports (AP/International Herald Tribune, 5/23).
“Family planning is actually a national policy, and Yulin City has demanded that residents quit flouting laws and regulations,” a Bobai official — who only gave his surname, Luo — stated, adding, “There has been a great deal of pressure on officials who don’t realize family members planning perform along with the situation got out of hand, but that’s stopped now.” Luo said the objective of curbing population growth “won’t change, but the methods is going to be adjusted” (Reuters AlertNet, 5/23).
Washington Post Examines Events Leading to Clashes
The Washington Post on Wednesday examined actions taken on enforcing the household preparing policy within the region and details of the clashes. In accordance with the Post, the “brutal fine-collection drive” could be the “latest example of abusive neighborhood enforcement” with the one-child policy (Cody, Washington Post, 5/23).
NBC’s “Nightly News” on Tuesday reported on the clashes in southwest China. The segment includes comments from Carl Minzner with the Council on Foreign Relations (Mullen, “Nightly News,” NBC, 5/22). Video of the segment is offered on the web.
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