A Chinese official said Tuesday that the worsening imbalance in
the sex-ratio of newborns in China was not a result of the
country's 33-year-long family planning policy.
The official admitted that the two are "related" and that the
family planning policy has "contributed to the imbalance."
"But that is not to say the policy has led to a rise in the
imbalance," Zhang Weiqing, director of the National Population and
Family Planning Commission, told a press briefing.
Formulated in the early 1970s, China's family planning policy
encourages late marriages and late childbearing, and limits most
urban couples to one child and most rural couples to two.
Wang Guoqiang, vice director of the National Population and
Family Planning Commission, said China's family planning policy is
not a "one-child policy".
While couples in large cities and some rural areas have only one
child, they account for only 36 percent of the total population,
according to Wang.
In 19 rural provinces, couples are allowed to have a second
child if the first one is a girl. The families represent 53 percent
of the population.
Wang explained that there are different policies for different
areas.
Zhang pointed out that other eastern countries -- such as India,
the Republic of Korea and Pakistan -- also have unbalanced newborn
sex ratios even though they do not have China's type of family
planning policy.
The official blamed several factors for the growing imbalance in
the ratio, including Chinese people's traditional preference for
boys, lower levels of development and an inadequate social security
network in rural areas, and the excessive use of ultrasound
technology.
China's gender ratio for newborn babies in 2005 was 118 boys for
100 girls, compared with 110:100 in 2000. In some regions, the
figure has reached 130 newborn boys for every 100 girls.
In a statement jointly issued by the Communist Party of China
Central Committee and the State Council, the authorities said the
increasingly unbalanced sex ratio is "a hidden danger" for society
that will "affect social stability."
To solve the problem, Zhang said China will take "comprehensive"
measures including promoting rural productivity and improving
people's living standards.
Zhang pledged that the government will take strict measures to
prevent and punish illegal gender testing of fetuses and abortions
which are not for medical purposes.
"China does not use abortion as a birth control method," Zhang
said.
Abortion is available to unmarried youngsters but the Chinese
government also provides sex education for young people to reduce
the risk of unwanted pregnancies and promote sexual health.
He said the government will also improve the social security
system in rural areas so that "elderly people are properly cared
for".
A majority of China's rural residents are not covered by the
social security system and farmers traditionally rely on their
children, especially boys, when they get old.
The government will also take further measures to promote
equality between men and women and to improve the social and
economic status of girls and women, Zhang said.
In an attempt to halt the growing imbalance, China launched a
"care for girls" campaign nationwide in 2000 to promote equality
between men and women.
The government has also offered cash incentives to girl-only
families in the countryside.
Zhang said solving the sex ratio imbalance will be "very
difficult", and China "needs 10 to 15 years to get China's newborn
sex ratio back to normal."
He said China will maintain a fertility rate of 1.8. And the
family planning policy will not be loosened during the 11th
Five-Year Plan Period (2006-2010).
China is in the midst of another baby boom, so it is definitely
not the right time to loosen the birth control policy, Zhang
said.
China is expected to increase spending on family planning from
10 yuan to 30 yuan (US$3.85) per person by 2010, according to a
document jointly issued by the Central Committee of the Communist
Party of China and the State Council.
China's government has pledged to keep the mainland population
under 1.36 billion by 2010 and under 1.45 billion by 2020.
(Xinhua News Agency January 23, 2007)