China to punish couples who violate one-child policy

China plans to issue new policies that would bar celebrities and other wealthy people who violate the country's one-child-per-family policy from receiving awards such as "honorary citizen," Yu Xuejun -- director of the department of policy law and regulations for the National Population and Family Planning Commission -- said recently, Xinhua/China Daily reports (Xinhua/China Daily, 3/1).

China's one-child 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.

Methods of enforcing the policy, such as fines and work demotions, vary among Chinese provinces and cities. In some areas, fines are calculated based on family income.

Officials in the Chinese province of Zhejiang earlier this month said they plan to name publicly wealthy families who pay fines to have additional children (Kaiser Daily Women's Health Policy Report, 2/12).

According to Reuters AlertNet, the newspaper Beijing News on Thursday reported that the national government plans to fine celebrities and rich people who violate the policy, as well as ban them from receiving "future awards" (Reuters AlertNet, 3/1).

Mu Weiyong, vice director of the family planning commission in the Liaoning province, said, "Celebrities and rich people's honors should be abolished and government officials should be removed from their posts if they have more than one child" (Xinhua/China Daily, 3/1).