Fearing the approach of a ticking "bachelor bomb," China is drafting tougher legislation against sex-selective abortions that have boosted the number of boys so dramatically, that newborn boys now outnumber girls eight to five in one city, state media reported yesterday.
The State Council is drafting special regulations that specify punishments for parents and doctors who abort fetuses after discovering they are female, the state-run Xinhua news agency said.
Abortions motivated merely by gender are already illegal in China, but existing laws do not describe the applicable punishment for such acts, Xinhua said.
New regulations will define the responsibilities of different government departments in combating the problem, it said, without giving a timetable for the new rules.
The sex ratio among Chinese toddlers is becoming ever more skewed as a direct result of the nation's one-child policy.
Couples that cannot give birth to an unlimited number of children are more likely to abort female fetuses in hopes of having a much-wanted son.
"The root cause is traditional thinking that boys are better than girls, especially in poverty-stricken areas," said Song Jiang, a population expert at Beijing's Renmin University. "Those people expect boys to support the family."
In some parts of the vast country, sex-selective abortions have caused a situation where there are more than three boys for every two girls, Xinhua said in a separate report.
In a particularly striking example, there are 163.5 boys for every 100 girls in the city of Lianyungang in Jiangsu Province, Xinhua said, which means baby boys now outnumber their female counterparts eight to five there.
The data are from the state-controlled China Family Planning Association, which said in a survey that 99 cities had sex ratios higher than 125 boys to 100 girls.
The association's data also said that the entire island of Hainan now had 136 newborn boys for every 100 girls.
Previously published figures showed that the national average in China in 2005 was nearly 119 boys to every 100 girls.
The average global sex ratio at birth is about 105 under "natural" conditions.
Demographers are increasingly warning of the dangers the trend poses to social stability in China.
The greatest worry is the huge army of bachelors that will result, with an estimated 30 million more men than women.
Some argue those numbers of men could become a force for social instability, while others have said they are likely to belong to the most disadvantaged layers of society, and therefore will not be equipped to make much trouble.
Researchers have warned that a high number of frustrated bachelors could raise the risks of anti-social and violent behavior.
Under the one-child policy, introduced in about 1980, China's urban dwellers are allowed one child, while rural families can have two if the first is a girl.
Ruthless enforcement of the regulation has triggered widespread opposition, especially in the countryside where children are valued as additional economic muscle.
Riots have broken out against forced abortions and other measures, such as heavy fines, the destruction of homes and confiscation of property.
However, Chinese Communist Party officials and the rich often ignore the law themselves or pay the necessary fines.
Despite its unpopularity, the policy has been effective in slowing the country's demographic growth.
At 1.3 billion people, China already has the world's biggest population, but it is expected to be overtaken by India some time this century.
ROLLER-COASTER RIDE: More than five earthquakes ranging from magnitude 4.4 to 5.5 on the Richter scale shook eastern Taiwan in rapid succession yesterday afternoon Back-to-back weather fronts are forecast to hit Taiwan this week, resulting in rain across the nation in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration said yesterday, as it also warned residents in mountainous regions to be wary of landslides and rockfalls. As the first front approached, sporadic rainfall began in central and northern parts of Taiwan yesterday, the agency said, adding that rain is forecast to intensify in those regions today, while brief showers would also affect other parts of the nation. A second weather system is forecast to arrive on Thursday, bringing additional rain to the whole nation until Sunday, it
CONDITIONAL: The PRC imposes secret requirements that the funding it provides cannot be spent in states with diplomatic relations with Taiwan, Emma Reilly said China has been bribing UN officials to obtain “special benefits” and to block funding from countries that have diplomatic ties with Taiwan, a former UN employee told the British House of Commons on Tuesday. At a House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee hearing into “international relations within the multilateral system,” former Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) employee Emma Reilly said in a written statement that “Beijing paid bribes to the two successive Presidents of the [UN] General Assembly” during the two-year negotiation of the Sustainable Development Goals. Another way China exercises influence within the UN Secretariat is
LANDSLIDES POSSIBLE: The agency advised the public to avoid visiting mountainous regions due to more expected aftershocks and rainfall from a series of weather fronts A series of earthquakes over the past few days were likely aftershocks of the April 3 earthquake in Hualien County, with further aftershocks to be expected for up to a year, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Based on the nation’s experience after the quake on Sept. 21, 1999, more aftershocks are possible over the next six months to a year, the agency said. A total of 103 earthquakes of magnitude 4 on the local magnitude scale or higher hit Hualien County from 5:08pm on Monday to 10:27am yesterday, with 27 of them exceeding magnitude 5. They included two, of magnitude
Taiwan’s first drag queen to compete on the internationally acclaimed RuPaul’s Drag Race, Nymphia Wind (妮妃雅), was on Friday crowned the “Next Drag Superstar.” Dressed in a sparkling banana dress, Nymphia Wind swept onto the stage for the final, and stole the show. “Taiwan this is for you,” she said right after show host RuPaul announced her as the winner. “To those who feel like they don’t belong, just remember to live fearlessly and to live their truth,” she said on stage. One of the frontrunners for the past 15 episodes, the 28-year-old breezed through to the final after weeks of showcasing her unique