More measures should be adopted in addition to monetary penalty
to prevent China's wealthy people from having more children, which
runs counter to the national policy of one child, a population
expert said in Beijing on Sunday.
Business tycoons and show business celebrities are joining rural
people to challenge China's family planning policy by paying the
punitive "social maintenance fee" to have two or more
offspring.
"Simply imposing fines or administrative punishments would not
produce an ideal result," said Yang Kuifu, vice chairman of the
Committee of Population, Resources and Environment under the
National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative
Conference (CPPCC),
which is in a ten-day session.
Yang said he had presented a proposal to the annual session of
the top advisory body, namely the CPPCC National Committee, to
invite reasonable and effective ideas to tackle the problem.
Statistics showed that at least 84 multi-baby cases were
registered between 2002 and 2005 among affluent citizens in
Shanghai, China's commercial hub. And there was a growing trend of
the cases. In Shenyang, capital of northeast China's
Liaoning Province, 76 wealthy people were punished for having
extra babies in 2000.
Generally speaking, those working in governmental departments or
state-run institutions are afraid of losing their jobs for having
more than one child. However, prohibitive measures are not
effective enough for private business people or celebrities.
Yang proposed that the personal credit of private business
people or celebrities be tainted if they choose to have more
children.
(Xinhua News Agency March 6, 2006)