Slogans Take on Softer Tone, But Restrictive Population Policies Remain

China's National Population and Family Planning Commission (NPFPC) has altered its population planning slogans to reflect a less strident tone, according to an October 11 Xinhua article and a July 19 circular posted on the NPFPC Web site. The NPFPC eliminated older slogans like "Raise fewer babies but more piggies" and "One more baby means one more tomb" that drew controversy and created a "misunderstanding about the [population planning] policy and even tarnish[ed] the image of the government," according to the NPFPC, as cited in the Xinhua article. In their place are slogans including "The mother earth is too tired to sustain more children" and "Having a boy or girl brings much joy, gender imbalances bring much worry." The slogans, organized by theme, include catch phrases directed at migrant populations and slogans to encourage officials to properly implement population planning policies. (See the Xinhua article for translations of some phrases. Click here and scroll to the bottom of the page to open an attachment listing the 190 new slogans in Chinese.) Despite this change in tone, the government's population planning policies remain unchanged, and have been reinforced by two new policy documents issued in recent months.

On May 24, 2007, the National Population and Family Planning Commission issued a plan to "rectify" out-of-plan births in urban parts of China. (English translation available from Open Source Center and quoted here.) The new directive addresses weak compliance with population planning requirements, including by public officials who have more than the permitted number of children. The plan also encourages urban areas to "play a leading and influential role" in population planning work. It sets out four main tasks:

• taking "measures against ... social public figures, party members and cadres who run counter to the family planning policy;"
• investigating violations of population planning policies, including births of second children and births to unmarried parents;
• publicizing "unlawful" births; and
• launching a propaganda campaign to "carry forward justice, foster a good atmosphere, and guide the broad masses of the people to consciously carry out the family planning policy."

News that followed this plan echoed similar concerns about officials' failure to comply with population planning policies by having more children than permitted. As discussed in the Congressional-Executive Commission on China's (CECC) 2007 Annual Report (via the Government Printing Office Web site), official Chinese media reported in July 2007 that Hunan population planning authorities found that from 2000 to 2005, nearly 2,000 officials in the province had violated the national Population and Family Planning Law. In September 2007, the central government and Communist Party announced new measures to monitor public officials' adherence to population planning requirements and deny promotions to officials who had more than the permitted number of children.

The second document, an opinion issued by the General Office of the State Council on May 31, 2007, focuses on strengthening officials' administration of population planning requirements. The document, issued on the heels of a series of protests in the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region (GZAR) over the enforcement of population planning policies, cited concerns about "mass incidents" and threats to "social stability" stemming from local officials' abuses in implementing the policies. (See Section II, Population Planning, in the CECC 2007 Annual Report for more information on the events in the GZAR.) The opinion calls for:

• "unwavering" support for population planning policies;
• strengthening officials' implementation of relevant laws and directives, and safeguarding citizens' "lawful rights and interests;"
• continuing policies to spread propaganda and education, promote contraception, and ensure consistency in population planning work;
• maintaining a system to inspect the enforcement of population planning policies;
• strengthening early warning and response mechanisms to handle urgent situations related to population planning; and
• strengthening legal education for public officials.

Although the opinion articulates a limited number of steps to address abuses in the enforcement of population planning requirements, both the opinion and the earlier plan reinforce basic population planning policies that violate international human rights standards.

For more information, see Section II, Population Planning, in the CECC 2007 Annual Report.