China's family planning policy has been "misinterpreted" in the Western world, said a high-ranking official with the State Population and Family Planning Commission.

At the roundtable on culture of the Fortune Global Forum, Zhao Baige, vice-minister in charge of the commission, said that the Western world simply considers China's family planning policy as a "one-child" policy.

"Actually, the family planning policy is diversified according to different situations," said Zhao.

Zhao noted that in cities, the policy is one child for one family, but in rural areas, the policy allows two children and in minority communities, there is no restriction to the number of children in one family.

"On average there are 1.8 children for each family," said Zhao.

Zhao noted that China has employed family planning policies for more than 20 years, and that they have had positive effects on resource distribution and on China's social and economic development.

But they have also had some negative effects, like causing the disparity between the male and female population, as more boys than girls were born, typically in the countryside, she said.

China has already mapped out a host of policies to ensure equality between men and women and the right of girls to receive schooling, the official said.

Zhao said the country would continue to put forward policies for social insurance to cover more of the elderly population. Figures show that people above age 65 make up 7 percent of the country's total population.

(Xinhua News Agency May 17, 2005)