TIMES ONLINE– Doctors in southern China are working around the clock to fulfil a
government
goal to sterilise — by force if necessary — almost 10,000 men and women
who
have violated birth control policies. Family planning authorities are so
determined to stop couples from producing more children than the
regulations
allow that they are detaining the relatives of those who resist.
About 1,300 people are being held in cramped conditions in towns across
Puning
county, in Guangdong Province, as officials try to put pressure on
couples
who have illegal children to come forward for sterilisation. The 20-day campaign, which was launched on April 7, aims to complete
9,559
sterilisations in Puning, which, with a population of 2.24 million, is
the
most populous county in the province.
A doctor in Daba village said that his team was working flat out,
beginning
sterilisations every day at 8am and working straight through until 4am
the
following day. Zhang Lizhao, 38, the father of two sons, aged 6 and 4, said that he
rushed
home late last night from buying loquats for his wholesale fruit
business to
undergo sterilisation after his elder brother was detained. His wife had
already returned so that the brother would be freed.
Mr Zhang said: “This morning my wife called me and said they were
forcing her
to be sterilised today. She pleaded with the clinic to wait because she
has
her period. But they would not wait a single day. I called and begged
them
but they said no. So I have rushed back. I am satisfied because I have
two
sons.”
Thousands of others have refused to submit and officials are continuing
to
detain relatives, including elderly parents, to force them to submit to
surgery. Those in detention are required to listen to lectures on the
rules
limiting the size of families.
On April 10 The Southern Countryside Daily reported on about 100 people,
mostly elderly, packed into a damp 200sq m (2,150sq ft) room at a
township
family planning centre. The newspaper said: “There were some mats on the
floor but the room was too small for all people to lie down and sleep,
so
the young ones had to stand or squat. Owing to the lack of quilts, many
cuddled up to fight the cold.”
Among those being held was the 68-year-old father of Huang Ruifeng, who
has
three daughters. Mr Huang said: “Several days ago a village official
called
me and asked me or my wife to return for the surgery. Otherwise they
would
take away my father.” He said that he was too busy to go and did not
have
confidence in village medical techniques. In any case, he wanted his
wife to
give birth to a son first.
An official at the Puning Population and Family Planning Bureau, who
declined
to be identified, told The Global Times: “It’s not uncommon for family
planning authorities to adopt some tough tactics.”
In Puning county couples with illegal children and their relatives who
apply
for permits to build a house are rejected. Illegal children are refused
residency registration, a penalty that denies them access to healthcare
and
education. Authorities have discovered, however, that those methods have less
success
than rounding up relatives. One official said that an investigation would be launched to establish
whether
authorities in Puning had exceeded their remit.
A state-level regulation stipulates that couples who violate the family
planning policy must not be punished without proper authorisation and
family
members may not be penalised to put pressure on couples. In the years after China launched its strict “one couple, one child”
family
planning policy in the late 1970s abuses such as forced late-term
abortions,
sterilisations and even the killing of newborn babies were widely
reported.
Such practices have diminished in recent years, as the policy has become
more widely accepted and exceptions have been introduced.
Officials in Puning are under particular pressure, however: they risk
failing
in their bid for promotion to a second-tier county if they cannot meet
all
quotas. That includes keeping the number of births within government
limits. The county is under criticism from Guangdong authorities, who want to
slow a
population growth that is reflecting badly on the entire province. One
reason for Puning’s large population is that families in the mainly
rural
region often have up to three or four children.
Many of those with extra children have left to find factory jobs along
the
more developed coast, taking advantage of being away from local
government
surveillance to give birth outside the quotas. Rules in Puning, as throughout rural China, allow farmers to have a
second
child if the first is a daughter. After that couples must stop. By the
morning of April 12 Puning officials said that they had achieved, in a
mere
five days, about half of their sterilisation goal after their
“education”
persuaded people to comply.
Family planning
• China is the world’s most populous country with about 1.3 billion
people. By
2025 the population is expected to exceed 1.4 billion
• The birthrate is low at 14 births per 1,000 people every year but the
infant
mortality rate is also low, at 20.25 deaths per 1,000 live births
• The single-child policy, referred to by the Chinese Government as the
family
planning policy, was introduced in 1978 to ensure that China could feed
all
of its people
• The policy stipulates that couples living in cities can have one
child,
unless one or both are from an ethnic minority or they are both only
children. In most rural areas a couple may have a second child after a
break
of several years
• Despite the policy, it is common to find couples in the countryside,
where
80 per cent of the population live, with a large number of children
• Many couples get round the law by sending pregnant women to stay with
relatives, then claiming that the baby was adopted or belongs to a
friend or
relative
• Critics say that the policy has led to the killing of female infants
because
of the traditional preference for boys
Sources: BBC; CIA World Factbook
© COPYRIGHT TIMES ONLINE, 2010
Photo by Flickr user Benoitflorencon
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