Commentary: Making enforcement of China’s birth control policy fair
BEIJING, July 13 (Xinhua) — China’s birth control policy was again in the spotlight with World Population Day this week, but after almost 30 years, questions should be asked about fairness of its enforcement.
The State Population and Family Planning Commission (SPFPC) on Tuesday reiterated the government’s determination to maintain the birth control policy although population growth has been stabilizing.
The campaign, started in the late 1970s, brought this choice of family life into the public domain. Couples, the government, the community and even employers are all involved and those who violate the law risk incurring large fines.
The policy was upgraded to the Population and Family Planning Law, which came into effect in September 2002.
The government says the law has been effective, citing that China would have had 400 million more people than the present 1.3 billion without the policy. This would be a huge social and financial burden for the country and the world.
But surely these benefits risk being undermined when the great law-abiding majority see the law being flouted by the rich and powerful.
There have been reports of officials, tycoons and celebrities having more than one child over the years. This can undermine the public’s trust in its enforcement unless changes are made to show it is applied across the board.
The birth control law must be more strictly enforced in some circumstances. The argument was reinforced in central China’s Hunan Province this week.
An investigation there found 1,900 celebrities, business people and government officials had used their privilege or wealth to flout the one-child regulations.
According to the practice in Hunan, the fines be set according to a couple’s annual earnings. But the real incomes of private entrepreneurs are often murky and even when reliable information is obtained, fines can be difficult to collect.
The birth control department of Lianyuan city, in Hunan Province, fined a coal mine owner 1.36 million yuan (179,000-U.S. dollars), the province’s highest ever fine. But the businessman just refused to turn up to pay the fine and it seemed little could be done to make him.
Any law should be applied across the board, regardless of wealth, privilege or authority.
Family planning authorities who are responsible for enforcing the birth control policy must be encouraged to work with other government agencies that have experience and authority in law enforcement.
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When the income of a couple is unknown or hidden, government auditors should be allowed in to thoroughly examine their assets and earnings. Fines cannot be dished out on guesswork or the basis of self-declarations by the lawbreakers.
Revenue departments might also appreciate this scrutiny as tax avoidance and breaking the one-child law are too often bundled into the same category of “victimless crimes” when, in fact, their repercussions are felt by the whole of society.
When a couple’s assets and earnings are clarified, officials can then take targeted action in collecting unpaid fines.
Second homes, vehicles, bank accounts, securities and all the other concrete trappings of wealth and privilege belonging to the couple and to any companies or businesses they hold should be seized or frozen until the fines are paid.
Deadlines for payment must be set, and if they are not met, those assets should be publicly auctioned off till the value of the fine is met. This would not only allow justice to be done, but allow justice to be seen to be done.
Can a populous developing country like China risk the idea that a couple can have as many children as they can afford?
The birth rate in China stands at 1.7 to 1.8 percent, or eight million to ten million births a year.
The country faces a population rebound in next five years when most couples will be comprised of only children who will be allowed to have two children themselves.
Fortunately, public awareness of family planning is improving.
More people, especially the urban middle class, are reluctant to marry early and have a child because they want to enjoy life with such responsibilities and in the countryside more realize that an only child can have a better upbringing.