The Chinese Government Tuesday expressed its deep regret over the United States Government's decision to withhold its US$34 million annual contribution to the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA).
Sources with the fund said that the Bush administration had accepted allegations that the agency gave tacit support to China's family planning policy, which Washington regards as coercive.
Meanwhile, the UNFPA also criticized US move Tuesday, saying that the US move will affect millions of women and children worldwide for whom the life-saving services provided by the organization.
A spokesperson for the State Family Planning Commission said: "We regret that the US Government has made such a decision, which will no doubt have a negative impact on the international population and development program.''
The spokesperson, who declined to be named, said that the commission received a delegation from Britain's parliament and another from the US State Department during the first half of this year. The two delegations conducted independent investigatory tours of UNFPA project areas in China.
The spokesperson stressed: "What we did demonstrates our good faith, frankness and confidence. And the outcome of these tours confirms a very important fact -- that the UNFPA-assisted project in China has been operating in complete conformity with the principle of the Programme of Action of the International Conference on Population and Development, and is working hard to help China attain the goals set by the conference program. ''The commission spokesperson said that the co-operation between the Chinese Government and UNFPA in the sectors of population and reproductive health in the past 20 years and more has achieved remarkable success.
The direct beneficiaries have been poor people, especially poor women in China's rural areas.
The reproductive health of women in the project areas has improved, and cases of reproductive-tract infection and induced abortion have been reduced.
The rights and interests of fertile couples have been better protected through the initiation of changes in the approach of program managers, the elimination of targets and quotas, the adoption of the practice of informed choice regarding contraceptive methods, and the delivery of quality reproductive-health and family-planning services.
The UNFPA-assisted project has been widely welcomed by people in China, said the spokesperson.
The Chinese Government said it will continue to implement the program of the UN International Conference on Population and Development, and try its best to realize the program's goals.
The commission spokesperson said: "We will continue to strengthen our co-operation with the UNFPA and make our due contribution to the healthy development of the world's population program.''
The head of the UNFPA Tuesday lambasted the US Government's decision.
"The denial of these funds will, unfortunately, significantly affect millions of women and children worldwide for whom the life-saving services provided by the UNFPA will have to be discontinued. Women and children will die because of this decision,'' UNFPA Executive Director Thoraya Obaid told a press conference at United Nations headquarters in New York.
"UNFPA has not, does not and will not ever condone or support coercive activities of any kind, anywhere,'' Obaid added. She stressed that her agency "remains steadfast as a leading voice for human rights'' and for the principles enshrined in various international documents that condemn all forms of coercion.
Obaid emphasized that the fund's program in China has strictly observed the highest standards of human rights and that the participation of women and children has been voluntary.
She also cited a US fact-finding report that found no evidence that the fund had supported or participated in coercive abortion or involuntary sterilization in China.
UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan said the UNFPA did very essential work, "and we have made it clear that it does not go around encouraging abortions.'' Annan said that, instead, the agency gives good advice to women on reproductive health and does valuable work around the world, including in China.
If the US$34 million in funding was denied, the UN would "try and see if other donors will step up and make up the difference because the work we are doing is absolutely essential and we do not want women, particularly poor women around the world, to suffer,'' Annan said.
According to the agency, the US$34 million would have allowed the UNFPA to prevent 2 million unwanted pregnancies and more than 77,000 infant and child deaths. The United States is the only country ever to deny funding to the agency for non-budgetary reasons, the UNFPA said.
The UNFPA is the world's largest multilateral source of population assistance, with programs in 142 countries. It has provided approximately US$5.6 billion to developing countries to meet reproductive-health needs and support sustainable development since its inception in 1969.
(China Daily July 24, 2002)
