Zhang Weiqing, head of China's National Population and Family Planning Commission, announced that the government will reduce fines for low-income couples who violate the country's one-child-per-family policy, the Washington Post reports (Fan, Washington Post, 1/24).
China's one-child-per-family policy seeks to keep the country's population, now 1.3 billion, at about 1.7 billion by 2050. Ethnic minorities and farmers are the only groups legally exempt from the rule nationwide. According to the family planning commission's "Strategic Research Report on National Population Development," the country's birthrate has decreased from 5.8 children per woman in the 1970s -- when the one-child policy was implemented -- to 1.8 children per woman currently. The report also predicts that China's population will peak at 1.5 billion people in 2033 (Kaiser Daily Women's Health Policy Report, 1/16). A survey conducted Monday by the China Youth Daily and the Web site QQ.com found that 61% of respondents thought it was unfair that wealthy couples could afford to have more infants by paying the fines imposed, and one-third of the respondents thought officials should develop other punishments besides a fine. According to the Post, Zhang's announcement appeared to be part of an attempt to put a "more human face" on the government's "much-maligned" family-planning policies. "Rich people and poor people, they are all equal before the law," Zhang said, adding, "With very poor families, we may reduce part of the social compensation fee or waive the fee, depending on the actual situation." Ma Mingjie, director of the Social Research Center at China Youth Daily, said the government "really want[s] to take some effective measures to ease the tension" (Washington Post, 1/24).