Reports last week declared the end to China’s one-child policy. Now, government officials are saying they were misquoted and the policy is not going anywhere. The Los Angeles Times tries to find out what the real story is:
Over the weekend, an official said China was considering making changes to its one-child policy, but didn’t offer any specifics. The statement by Wu Jianmin, a spokesman for the advisory body to the Chinese parliament, appeared to echo comments made last week by a senior family planning official.
State media, however, said that Zhao Baige, vice minister of the National Population and Family Planning Commission, had been misquoted, leading to confusion over the future of one of the world’s most extreme family planning measures.
…Vague as it is, the message may be an example of how China plans to deflect criticism of its human rights record in the months before the Olympic Games. Few expect Beijing to allow China’s 1.3 billion people to multiply as they wish. But observers say government officials are probably serious about reevaluating the family planning rules, even if they prefer to do it in secret.
