China suspended three officials and apologized to a woman who was forced to undergo an abortion seven months into her pregnancy in a case that sparked uproar after graphic photos of the mother and her dead fetus were circulated online.
The moves appeared to be aimed at allaying public anger over a case that has triggered renewed criticism of China’s widely unpopular one-child limit. Designed to control the country’s exploding population, the policy has led to — often violently imposed — forced abortions and sterilizations as local authorities pursue birth quotas set by Beijing.
Feng Jianmei (馮建梅), 23, was beaten by officials and forced to abort her fetus at seven months on June 2 because her family could not afford a 40,000 yuan (US$6,300) fine for having a second child, Chinese media reported this week.
Photo: EPA
Photos of Feng lying on a hospital bed with the blood-covered fetus, reportedly stillborn after a chemical injection killed it, were posted online and went viral, prompting a public outpouring of sympathy and outrage.
The government of Ankang city, where Feng lives in northwest China’s Shaanxi Province, said a deputy mayor visited Feng and her husband in the hospital, apologized to them and said the officials responsible would be suspended amid an investigation.
“Today, I am here on behalf of the municipal government to see you and express our sincere apology to you. I hope to get your understanding,” Ankang Deputy Mayor Du Shouping (杜壽平) said, according to a statement on the city government’s Web site yesterday.
Feng and her husband could not immediately be reached yesterday. A relative who answered Feng’s cellphone said the couple were in talks with city officials.
Xinhua news agency said three officials would be relieved of their duties: two top local family planning officials and the head of the township government.
However, one expert said the officials are unlikely to be seriously punished for a problem that has existed for three decades and that is usually a result of orders carried out to meet the central government’s population quotas.
China legalized abortion in the 1950s, but it did not become common practice until the government began enforcing a one-child limit to stem population growth.
From fewer than 5 million abortions a year before 1979, the number jumped to 8.7 million in 1981, a year after the one-child policy was introduced. It peaked in 1983 at 14.4 million before coming down as China relaxed the policy to allow rural couples a second child if their first was a girl.
Xinhua said Feng was not legally entitled to a second child under China’s one-child limit because she did not have a rural household registration, but added that late-term abortions are prohibited due to the risk of causing physical injury to the mother.
“The correct way to deal with the case would have been for local officials to allow her to deliver the baby first, and then mete out punishment according to regulations,” the agency quoted an anonymous provincial family planning official as saying.
Abuses by family planning officials are often a target for popular frustration, especially amid a growing sense among better-off Chinese that the government has no right to dictate how many children people should have.
One reason that activist Chen Guangcheng (陳光誠) enjoys a wider appeal within China than many other activists is that he and his wife documented complaints about forced abortions and sterilizations in the city that oversees his village.
The couple’s efforts angered local leaders. Chen was jailed and later placed under illegal house arrest, from which he fled six weeks ago in a daring escape. He is now living in New York with his wife and two young children.
LEVERAGE: China did not ‘need to fire a shot’ to deny Taiwan airspace over Africa when it owns ‘half the continent’s debt,’ a US official said, calling it economic warfare The EU has raised concerns about overflight rights following the delay of President William Lai’s (賴清德) planned state visit to the Kingdom of Eswatini after three African nations denied overflight clearance for his charter at the last minute. Taiwanese allies Paraguay and Saint Kitts and Nevis, as well as several US lawmakers and the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China (IPAC) condemned China for allegedly pressuring the countries. Lai was scheduled to fly directly to Taiwan’s only African ally from yesterday to Sunday to celebrate the 40th anniversary of King Mswati III’s accession and his 58th birthday, but Seychelles, Mauritius and Madagascar suddenly revoked
The number of pet cats in Taiwan surpassed that of pet dogs for the first time last year, reaching 1,742,033, a 32.8 percent increase from 2023, the Ministry of Agriculture said yesterday, citing a survey. By contrast, the number of pet dogs declined slightly by 1.2 percent over the same period to 1,462,528, the ministry said. Despite the shift, households with dogs still slightly outnumber those with cats by 1.2 percent. However, while the number of households with multiple dogs has remained relatively stable, households keeping more than two cats have increased, contributing to the overall rise in the feline population. The trend
China on Wednesday teased in a video an aircraft carrier that could be its fourth, and the first using nuclear power, while making an allusion to Taiwan and vowing to further build up its islands, as it looks to boost maritime power, secure resources and bolster territorial claims. The video, issued on the eve of the 77th founding anniversary of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army Navy, featured fictional officers with names that are homophones of three commissioned aircraft carriers, the Liaoning (遼寧), Shandong (山東) and Fujian (福建). Titled Into the Deep, it showed a 19-year-old named “Hejian” (何劍) joining the group, sparking
Taiwan has signed six arms procurement offers from the US totaling more than NT$208 billion (US$6.59 billion) covering long-range precision strike systems, missile stockpile replenishment and joint production of large-caliber ammunition, the Ministry of National Defense said yesterday. The government’s proposed NT$1.25 trillion special defense budget has been stalled in the Legislative Yuan as opposition lawmakers question the amount and procurement items, while the Presidential Office and defense ministry say that the full amount is necessary to safeguard Taiwan. Minister of National Defense Wellington Koo (顧立雄) on Monday briefed the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee on the defense budget for
RSS