The Law on Population and Family Planning, approved by the National People’s Congress Standing Committee, now states that couples are allowed to have two children.
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The announcement sets a timeline for a policy that will replace the country’s controversial 35-year-old one-child policy.
BEIJING-China’s lawmakers will allow all couples to have two children from the beginning of next year, implementing a new birth policy aimed at mitigating a potential demographic crisis.
The “one-child” policy began in 1980 with the goal of reducing the burden of resources caused by the quickly expanding population in the country.
By ratifying the law, Beijing attempts to cope with an ageing population and shrinking workforce.
The law comes into force in January, according to a separate Xinhua story.
Critics, including a French journalist, Ursula Gauthier, who was expelled from China this week, have questioned China’s policies in the ethnically divided province of Xinjiang, which is home to the mainly Muslim Uyghurs. With no legal definition of the term, many casualties – if abuse is reported by them at all – happen to be shuffled from cops to women’s federation to neighbourhood committee, with authorities unwilling to intercede unless serious harm is included.
ISPs and telecommunication companies must provide technical assistance to the government, including decrypting communications, for terrorism-related investigations, according to Xinhua, China’s official news agency.
The much anticipated couter-terrorism law proposed a national leading organ for counter-terrorism work, which will be in charge of identifying terrorist activities and personnel, and coordinate nationwide anti-terrorist work. The new policy aims to change that. “Many couples may choose to opt out of having a second child”, said Kristie Lu Stout in a video from CNN.
The ageing population has brought greater demand for elderly care services. William Nee, China researcher at Amnesty International, stated if China wants to respect human rights, then they should stop regulating how many children couples can have.
While details of the Bill were not immediately available, the anti-terrorism law also permits the People’s Liberation Army to get involved in anti-terrorism operations overseas, although experts have said China faces big practical and diplomatic problems if it ever wants to do this.
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Wang said the one-child policy was ineffective and unnecessary, since China’s fertility rates were already slowing by the 1980s.
