Beijing to Raise Fines on Elites Who Violate the One-Child Rule

Matthew Heyes/ 01/22/2008/ 9PM/ Population

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/22/world/asia/22china.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

This article refers to the one child rule that has been in effect in China for the last thirty years. The Chinese population is the biggest in the world, with 1.3 billion people. The rule was introduced to control the growth of this vast population and to conserve natural resources, and has been credited with preventing 400 million births.

The one child rule has several consequences. The first creates a gender imbalance, as males are deemed more desirable than females if the couple is only able to have the one child. Because of this many pregnancies are terminated if the couple find out that the child will be female, this raises many ethical issues about the rule. There is also an imbalance between the number of young and elderly as the birth control reduces the work force needed to support the elderly.

Another problem with the current rule is the fines that people face for breaking this rule. Put simply, a fine may ruin poor families, the affluent are barely affected. This will prolong, if not increase, inequality in China and the wealth gap between the richest and poorest. This is a main point of the article as family planning authorities are planning to increase the fines for the wealthy and reduce their ability to use their status in some cases to avoid paying fines at all.

I think that this is a fair and just initiative that will reduce inequality in China in the short term. While the law is controlling population growth it is important to consider the long term consequences for the elderly who should soon notice the effects of a reduced workforce, the poor will suffer greatly.