NOTE: It is true your editors and many members of European Americans United are utterly repulsed by some of China’s cultural practices–specifically by their horrifying treatment of cats and dogs. However, in this instance China knows that the right kind of demography is destiny, and–unlike the neutered West–they are on the way to implementing programs that will ensure China is inhabited by Chinese people; a lesson hopefully not completely lost on Europe and the United States. Credit due.
BEIJING—China will abandon its one-child policy, perhaps the most notorious of the Communist Party’s intrusions into Chinese lives, amid a looming demographic crunch that threatens the long-term health of the world’s second-largest economy.
All Chinese couples will be allowed to have two children, Chinese official media said, showing Beijing isn’t ready to totally relinquish its grip on the homes and bedrooms of its people. Demographers also warn that the move may be too little too late, as China already faces a declining, graying population without the workers it needs for its vast economy.
Still, the move is symbolically significant and amounts to an acknowledgment of the social and demographic problems the 35-year-old policy has created. “This is a historic moment signaling the complete end of the one-child policy,” said Wang Feng, a demographer at Fudan University in Shanghai.
The government didn’t offer a timeline for the rollout of the policy, but implementation will be gradual. According to a transcript of a press briefing, the National Health and Family Planning Commission will move slowly to ensure that there are enough services in place for couples wishing to have a second child in order to avoid major population spikes and fluctuations. Local officials will simplify the birth application procedures for couples, who currently have to go through a complicated procedure that can often take months, the transcript said.
The announcement of the new policy came on the last day of a meeting of top party leaders known as the Fifth Plenum, where they charted out China’s economic and social plan for the next five years.
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