China Admits One-Child Policy Abuses
December 20, 2000
China admitted yesterday
that their one-child
policy has led to abuses such as forced abortions.
Zhang Weiqing, director of the State Family Planning Commission, said
the policy had led to forced abortions as well as selective
abortion of female fetuses by couples who preferred sons, which has in turn
led to a high ratio of 111.3 newborn boys to 100 newborn girls.
And in some cases the policy had led to infanticide, he said.
"In traditional Chinese
thinking, men are more important than women," Zhang said.
"This kind of ideology has led to the abandonment of baby girls at birth and
people are also making use of modern technologies to have selective abortions
to get rid of unwanted baby girls," he said.
He confirmed one recent case in which three family planning workers in the
central Chinese city of Wuhan were arrested on suspicion of causing the death
of a newborn baby.
The baby, the fourth child of a peasant couple, was reportedly drowned in a
rice paddy. Zhang said the case was an isolated incident.
According to Zhang, the one-child policy has prevented
more than 300 million births.
- Source: The Taipei Times Online: 12/20/00
