§ Lord Alton of Liverpoolasked Her Majesty's Government:
On how many occasions in the past five years they have raised the one-child policy with Chinese Government officials; and what has been the Chinese Government's response. [HL2254]
§ Baroness AmosThe Government have raised China's one-child policy with Chinese Ministers and officials on several occasions in the past five years, including at the UK-China Human Rights Dialogue.
In May 2002, the Chinese State Family Planning Minister told my right honourable friend the Secretary of State for International Development that China's new population and family planning law, introduced in September 2002, would enshrine citizens' rights and the responsibilities of family planning officials. He indicated that the United Nations Population Fund's (UNFPA) human-centred reproductive health programme, in which birth targets and quotas have been abolished, would be expanded beyond the 32 counties included in UNFPA's current programme. The Minister added that China's eventual aim was to end the system of birth targets and quotas.
We do not question China's right (or need) to implement family planning policies but we have emphasised our view that this should be based on free and informed parental choice and not on coercion. We have condemned family planning abuses.