Xinjiang Focuses on Reducing Births in Minority Areas to Curb Population Growth

March 30, 2006

The Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region (XUAR) government will keep the region’s population within 22 million people by the end of 2010, according to news from a XUAR population and family planning work meeting on February 13 that was reported February 14 on Tianshan Net.

The Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region (XUAR) government will keep the region’s population within 22 million people by the end of 2010, according to news from a XUAR population and family planning work meeting on February 13 that was reported February 14 on Tianshan Net. The XUAR has one of the highest rates of population increase among provincial-level areas in China, and Han migration to the region has been the primary cause of the XUAR's population growth in the past 50 years. The article noted that floating and migrant populations will continue to contribute to the region's population growth, but it reported that the government will carry out its population planning policy by continuing measures to control birth rates. (For more information on China's population planning policies throughout the country and related human rights abuses, see the section on Population Planning in the 2005 CECC Annual Report.)

Another article on the meeting, posted February 14 on the Xinhua Xinjiang Web site, reported that the total population and natural growth rate in the XUAR met the target contemplated in the 10th Five-Year Plan, but also noted that births are booming in the region. The article reported that during the period of the 11th Five-Year Plan, the government would focus its population planning work on the region's rural areas. XUAR Party Committee Deputy Secretary Nur Bekri, who spoke at the meeting, noted that in rural areas, especially poorer ones, birth rates are "still relatively high." A January 24 article on Tianshan Net described such poor regions with high birth rates as areas populated by ethnic minorities. In the article on Xinhua's Web site, Bekri did not discuss how the "relatively high" birthrates relate to the region's Regulation on Population and Family Planning, which permits rural non-Han couples to have three children and rural Han couples to have two. Bekri stated that if the government fails to control the population growth rate, this could cancel out gains achieved in economic development. The February 14 Tianshan Net article cited concerns about the population's impact on the economy, society, natural resources, and the environment.

The February 14 article on the Xinhua Web site reported that the XUAR's population planning policy has taken the "first steps" in moving from "emphasis on punishing multiple births" to "emphasis on encouraging and rewarding fewer births." As noted in the 2005 CECC Annual Report, however, throughout China the government continues to punish non-compliance with population planning policies, even as it implements systems to reward fewer births. A March 7 article on Tianshan Net reported that, starting in 2006, the XUAR would give 600 yuan (US $75) annually to rural married couples over 45 years old whose only child is deceased or disabled, if that couple has not had more children. The XUAR has taken the lead among provincial-level areas in instituting such a program, the article reported. The article also noted that in 2005, the XUAR instituted pilot work for an encouragement and reward support system for population planning households.

Neither of the February 14 articles reported any changes in migration policy. The government provides incentives for Han Chinese outside the region to move to the XUAR, and it asserts that encouraging migration promotes stability in the region. The XUAR government claims the "three forces" of separatism, terrorism, and religious extremism threaten stability. It has targeted peaceful forms of expression by Uighurs, as well as components of Uighur identity, including religion, in its battle against these perceived threats.

Uighur rights groups criticized the results of the February meeting. In a February 15 press release from the Uyghur Human Rights Project, Uighur activist Rebiya Kadeer called the policy announcement "extremely bad news" for Uighurs, especially Uighur women. She also noted that Han migration and the government's political and cultural policies have already marginalized Uighurs, according to an Associated Press report posted February 17 on the ABC News Web site.

For additional information, see the section on Rights Violations in Xinjiang in the 2005 CECC Annual Report.