China to ease 1-child policy

[ameriken]

 

China to ease 1-child policy, abolish labor camps

 

Gillian Wong, Associated Press7:42 a.m. EST November 15, 2013

 

BEIJING (AP) — China will loosen its decades-old one-child policy by allowing two children for families with one parent who was an only child and will abolish a much-criticized labor camp system, its ruling Communist Party said Friday.

 

The changes were part of a key policy document released by the official Xinhua News Agency following a four-day meeting of party leaders through Tuesday in Beijing. The document also seeks to map out China's economic policy for coming years.

 

The labor camp — or "re-education through labor" — system was established to punish early critics of the Communist Party but now is used by local officials to deal with people challenging their authority on issues including land rights and corruption.

 

Pu Zhiqiang, a prominent Beijing lawyer who has represented several former labor camp detainees in seeking compensation, welcomed the abolition of the extra-legal system.

 

"There have been many methods used recently by this government that are against the rule of law, and do not respect human rights, or freedom of speech, but by abolishing the labor camps … it makes it much harder for the police to put these people they clamp down on into labor camps," Pu said.

 

"This is progress," Pu said.

 

China's family-planning policy currently limits most urban couples to one child and allows two children for rural families if their first-born is a girl. It also allows two children for parents who themselves are both singletons.

 

The new policy will allow two children for families where only one parent was an only child.

 

The Chinese government credits the one-child policy introduced in 1980 with preventing hundreds of millions of births and helping lift countless families out of poverty. But the strict limits have led to forced abortions and sterilizations, even though such measures are illegal. Couples who flout the rules face hefty fines, seizure of their property and loss of their jobs.

 

Last year, a government think tank urged China's leaders to start phasing out the policy and allow two children for every family by 2015, saying the country had paid a "huge political and social cost."

 

The China Development Research Foundation said the policy had resulted in social conflict, high administrative costs and led indirectly to a long-term gender imbalance because of illegal abortions of female fetuses and the infanticide of baby girls by parents who cling to a traditional preference for a son.

 

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2013/11/15/china-one-child-policy/3570593/

[Randy W]

Here's the same articles from Xinhua

 

China to balance urban, rural development

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/china/2013-11/15/c_132892185.htm

 

China to ease one-child policy

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/china/2013-11/15/c_132891920.htm

 

China to abolish reeducation through labor

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/china/2013-11/15/c_132891921.htm

 

Not much reason to provide quotes from these articles, since the articles in the Western press (including the one above) seem to pretty well summarize what is said, but you might want to check out these and other articles linked to from these pages.

[Randy W]

. . . and these thoughts from the Global Times (and the Chinese perspective)

 

Smaller steps characterize new reform

http://www.globaltimes.cn/content/825025.shtml?utm_source=buffer&utm_campaign=Buffer&utm_content=bufferc66d4&utm_medium=facebook#.UoV8gdJ9efM

 

At a recent seminar sponsored by the Global Times, scholars and experts from China's top think tanks shared their thoughts on the directions of Chinese reform in the coming years.

 

. . .

 

Chinese society has voiced its high expectations over the future of reform. These voices are much amplified online by public opinion and the media spotlight. But people should keep a clear mind about reform and its effects, and avoid excessive expectations.

It is inappropriate to make a simplified comparison between this third plenum and the one 35 years ago. The achievements made at the Third Plenum of the 11th CPC Central Committee responded to the times back then, which demanded great changes and extensive readjustments. There were not as many vested interests as today. The whole nation was easy to rally.

However, things have changed dramatically nowadays. Chinese society faces the problem of social fragmentation caused by different groups of vested interests, which have much less consensus on common interests.

As of now, Chinese reform is probably not going to advance in great leaps. Overwhelming breakthroughs are unlikely.

What's more, Chinese reform will not be "fully marketized" or "geared to the international community" as some people hope.

China is the beneficiary of globalization, but its State-owned assets cannot be capitalized internationally, or Chinese market and society will be put at risk of international monopoly capitalism.

China can draw lessons from the experience of Latin American countries in terms of capitalization. In the context of globalization, State capitalism would lead China to a dead end.

Chinese reform needs to focus on how to strike a balance among the market, government and society.

China cannot follow its Western counterparts to establish a system of "small government, big market." The Chinese government needs to play a dominant role in social governance.