Voodoo Vince

China may scrap one-child policy: official


Critics of China's one-child policy says its leading to a rapid greying of the population. -- PHOTO: AP

BEIJING - CHINA, worried about an ageing population, is studying scrapping its controversial one-child policy but will not do away with family-planning policies altogether, a senior official said on Thursday.

With the world's biggest population straining scarce land, water and energy resources, China has enforced rules to restrict family size since the 1970s. Rules vary but usually limit families to one child, or two in the countryside.

'We want incrementally to have this change,' Vice-Minister of the National Population and Family Planning Commission Zhao Baige told reporters in Beijing.

'I cannot answer at what time or how, but this has become a big issue among decision makers,' Mr Zhao added. 'The attitude is to do the studies, to consider it responsibly and to set it up systematically.'

The average number of children that would be born to a woman over her lifetime has decreased to 1.8 in China today, from 5.8 in the 1970s, and below the replacement rate of 2.1.

China says its policies have prevented several hundred million births and boosted prosperity, but experts have warned of a looming social time-bomb from an ageing population and widening gender disparity stemming from a traditional preference for boys.

Still, the government has previously expressed concern that too many people are flouting the rules.

State media said in December that China's population would grow to 1.5 billion people by 2033, with birth rates set to soar over the next five years.

Officials have also cautioned that population controls are being unravelled by the increased mobility of China's 150 million-odd migrant workers, who travel from poor rural areas to work in more affluent eastern cities.

China has vowed to slap heavier fines on wealthy citizens who flout family planning laws in response to the emergence of an upper class willing to pay standard fines to have more children. -- REUTERS

http://www.straitstimes.com/Latest%2...ry_211405.html

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People don't plan to fail... They fail to plan.

winni12

they should have done that long ago

- Glen -

Then I will see many PRCs coming over to Singapore soon.

zeraphx

huh nooo, more foreign talents ...

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NOT TO BE PROVOKED.

T-Rex

Then it will be even more over populated.

mitsui1031

They should have scrap this policy ages ago...

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There is no psychiatrist in the world like a puppy licking your face.
-Bernard Williams

KongMing

Then this will happen to China swimming pool.

Those who are skilled in combat do not become angered, those who are skilled at winning do not become afraid.
Thus the wise win before the fight, while the ignorant fight to win ~~~ Zhuge Liang

fathernature

HAHAH yes!!!! dun scrape!

Fathernature is a lady

toothburs

Lol... agree... i think within 10 years... China population will be over 2 billions... now is already 1.3 billion official and there are a lot of Chinese that are not counted... which means there is probably over 1.5 billion in China right now already

stardustsyeo

lol.. the picture on the china swimming pool is scary.. only can go soak water.. cant swim.

Voodoo Vince

China denies plan to scrap one-child policy: report

BEIJING - CHINA has denied that it is studying the abandonment of its decades-old one-child policy, local media reported on Sunday, days after an official said the country was considering incremental changes.

In an article headlined 'News of abandoning the one-child policy is inconsistent with the facts', the Beijing News said China, the world's most populous nation, was sticking to its controversial system of family planning.

'This report is incorrect, its content is not verified,' the newspaper cited the National Population and Family Planning Commission's publicity and education department as saying.

It was referring to remarks last week by Zhao Baige, vice-minister of the commission, that China could slowly change its one-child policy and that family planning had 'become a big issue among decision makers'.

Since the late 1970s, China has restricted most families to one child, though rules vary and families in the countryside are typically allowed to have a second child if the first is a girl, because of a traditional preference for boys.

China says the policies have prevented several hundred million births.

But experts have warned of looming problems from an ageing population and a growing gender imbalance stemming from aborted or abandoned baby girls.

Many also say the increasing mobility of China's population make family planning policies ever more difficult to enforce.

But the Beijing News report, which was also carried by the Yangcheng Evening News, a state-run newspaper in the southern province of Guangdong, poured cold water on the prospects for change.

'China will continue to pursue even better its population and family planning policy,' the reports said. -- REUTERS

http://www.straitstimes.com/Latest%2...ry_212483.html

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People don't plan to fail... They fail to plan.

Voodoo Vince

Ha Ha. How to swim in there.

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People don't plan to fail... They fail to plan.

Huaikong

cant imagine the world flooded with them......

Voodoo Vince

China may consider changes to one-child policy

BEIJING - CHINA may consider changing its one-child policy because it has succeeded in helping to slow population growth in the past three decades, a Chinese official said.

The policy, launched in the 1970s, has produced 'very good results,' said Mr Wu Jianmin, spokesman for the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, an advisory body to parliament.

There would be an estimated 400 million more people in China without it, Mr Wu said.

'The one-child policy was the only choice we had given the conditions when we initiated the policy,' Mr Wu told reporters at a news conference on Sunday, the day before the CPPCC convened for its annual session.

However, he added, 'when designing a policy we need to take into consideration the reality.' 'So as things develop, there might be some changes to the policy and relevant departments are considering this,' Mr Wu said without giving a timeline or details on which departments would be involved.

Mr Wu's comments echo a position China's communist government has been thinking about for some time. On Thursday, a senior family planning official said changes were being considered but that family planning policies would not be scrapped altogether.

Under the current mandate, Beijing limits most urban couples to one child and rural couples to two to conserve scarce resources.

Critics say the policy has led to forced abortions, sterilizations and a dangerously imbalanced sex ratio due to a traditional preference for male heirs that has prompted countless families to abort female fetuses.

There are also concerns about China's aging population, with those aged 60 or older expected to top 200 million by 2015 and 280 million by 2025, according to the government.

The CPPCC includes representatives of China's main business, religious and other noncommunist groups. The session will run through on March 14.

Mr Wu said the hot topics this session include macroeconomic controls, government restructuring, employment rates, consumer price stability, climate change, and reform of the financial, educational and health care systems. -- AP

http://www.straitstimes.com/Latest%2...ry_212695.html

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People don't plan to fail... They fail to plan.