Sunday, March 02, 2008

From USA Today website on 3/2/08

BEIJING (AP) — 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 Sunday.
The policy, launched in the 1970s, has produced "very good results," said 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, Wu said.

"The one-child policy was the only choice we had given the conditions when we initiated the policy," Wu told reporters at a news conference 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," Wu said without giving a timeline or details on which departments would be involved.

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 non-communist groups. The session will run through March 14.

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.

6 comments:

Kim said...

I saw this too.. I am hoping that is doesn't make our wait even longer...
I am happy for the children that don't get left behind..
We just have to have faith...
We WILL have our girls one day...
Hugs to you girly..
I am with you all the way..

Jennifer said...

I agree with the previous comment. It is great for the Children but on the other hand - we will have to wait that much longer... Are we prepared for that? I sure hope so... I just don't need to let this get me down. Now that I have read your post - I may need to post it on my blog as well...

Take care,
Jen S.

Briana's Mom said...

This is such big news. I am hearing it all over the place now.

Kristy said...

DON'T LET THIS GET YOU DOWN!! You have to remember that decades of thought has to be changed, and you have to remember that there are so so so many babies right now waiting for their mommys and daddys , we will have our babies one day soon.

Love, Kristy

Pam and Jeff said...

Ditto, Kristy. The world is coming to China for the olympics. They do not want to catch grief for the one child policy. If you were in Atlanta in 96, do not forget that everything this state did was to make sure we were ready in every way for the world to visit.
Hope your trip was fun!!
Pam

Shelly and Family said...

Thanks for posting this...for I am one that doesn't keep up on the world news. Very interesting...