China is to relax its policy of restricting most couples to have only
a single child, state media say.
In future, families will be allowed two children if one parent is an
only child, says the Xinhua news agency.
The one-child policy already exempts rural dwellers and ethnic minorities.
The move comes after this week’s meeting of a key decision-making body
of the governing Communist Party. Other reforms include the abolition
of “re-education through labour” camps.
The BBC’s Celia Hatton, in Beijing, says most of these changes have
already been tested in parts of the country.
Officials announce their plans well in advance to gain the consensus
they need, she adds.
The network of camps created half a century ago holds thousands of inmates.
Police panels have the power to sentence offenders to years in camps
without a trial.
China’s leaders have previously said they wanted to reform the system.
The decision to do away with the camps was “part of efforts to improve
human rights and judicial practices”, Xinhua said.
Reforms: The Third Plenum of the Communist Party under President Xi
Jinping, who took power last year, also announced plans for economic
reform.
Traditionally reforms are expected from the Third Plenum, because new
leaders are seen as having had time to consolidate power.
Other reforms announced on Friday include a reduction in the number of
crimes subject to the death penalty.
On Tuesday, when the meeting ended, China’s leaders promised the free
market would play a bigger role, and farmers would have greater
property rights over their land.
The one-child policy would be “adjusted and improved step by step to
promote ‘long-term balanced development of the population in China'”,
Xinhua said, quoting a Communist Party statement released on Friday.
China introduced its one-child policy at the end of the 1970s to curb
rapid population growth.
It has on the whole been strictly enforced, though some exceptions
already exist, including for ethnic minorities.
In some cities, both parents must be only children in order to be
allowed to have a second child.
In the countryside, families are allowed to have two children if the
first is a girl.
Rights groups say the law has meant some women being coerced into
abortions, which Beijing denies.
The traditional preference for boys has also created a gender
imbalance as some couples opt for sex-selective abortions.
By the end of the decade, demographers say China will have 24 million
“leftover men” who, because of China’s gender imbalance, will not be
able to find a wife.
Most of the elderly in China are still cared for by relatives, and
only children from single-child parents face what is known as the
4-2-1 phenomenon.
When the child reaches working age, he or she could have to care for
two parents and four grandparents in retirement.
After decades of population growth, China’s working-age population has
recently begun to shrink. By 2050, more than a quarter of the
population will be over 65. – BBC News
