§ Mr. AltonTo ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs (1) what information he has on(a) incentives to conform with the Chinese population control programme, including access to land, better housing, reduction in taxes and extra payments and (b) the content of the eugenics laws enacted by Gansu and Liaoning provinces; and what progress has been made in enacting a national Chinese eugenics law;
(2) what information he has on the number and nature of Chinese population control projects sponsored by the United Nations Fund for Population Activities under the memorandum of understanding between China and the UNFPA in 1979;
283W(3) what reports he has received from Her Majesty's Government's representatives in China concerning the population control programme and in particular the practice of killing children during or immediately after birth;
(4) what information he has on (a) the number of United Nations Fund for Population activities staff present in China and their duties in relation to the Chinese population control programme; (b) how many Chinese personnel involved in the Chinese population control programme have received training from the UNFPA; and (c) how many UNFPA officials based in China work with the Chinese State Family Planning Commission;
(5) what information he has on the steps taken by the United Nations Fund for Population activities to ensure that management information systems and training in programme research and evaluation provided to the Chinese State Family Planning Commission have not and are not being used to enforce birth quotas on the Chinese population;
(6) if he will make a statement on his Department's policy regarding the Chinese national eugenics policy and the forced sterilisation of those regarded as physically or mentally deficient or their partners;
(7) what information he has regarding which Chinese provinces specify the legal insertion of inter-uterine devices into women; and what exemptions are made for women for whom IUDs may not be medically appropriate;
(8) what provision is made in China for couples who are opposed in conscience to artificial contraception, sterilisation and abortion;
(9) what information he has on the levels of fines specified in China for Chinese women in breach of provincial family planning legislation; and how they are related to average rural and urban per capita incomes;
(10) what information he has on the practice of destroying the homes of families in breach of Chinese provincial family planning legislation;
(11) what information he has on the methods used to persuade Chinese women to undergo sterilisation in accordance with provincial laws; and what information he has on the number of Chinese women who have been sterilised;
(12) what information he has on the practice of fining women who refuse to be sterilised in China; and what information he has on the practice in Fuijan province, China, of taking women for forcible sterilisation;
(13) what information he has as to which Chinese provinces do not have laws obliging (a) one member of a married couple to be sterilised or (b) women to use contraception;
(14) what information he has on the practice of making payments to Chinese women for being sterilised;
(15) what information he has on the reasons for the percentage change in the number of sterilisations conducted in China in 1991;
(16) what information he has on the use of ultrasound equipment in China to detect female unborn children;
(17) what information he has on Chinese official rules requiring expectant mothers to present birth authorisation cards before being admitted to hospital delivery rooms in Canton; and if he will make a statement;
(18) if he will seek clarification from his Chinese opposite number about reports regarding the disappearance of female children; and if he will make a statement;
284W(9) what information he has on the practice of fining or sacking Chinese district and township officials if local family planning targets are not achieved;
(20) what information he has on Chinese early birth shock brigades and their role in forcible abortions;
(21) what information he has on the effects of the 1991 decision by the Standing Committee of the Chinese Politburo to tighten enforcement of the Chinese birth control programmes on the population of China;
(22) if his officials consider data on the numbers of sterilisations and abortions in China before agreeing funds for his budget for the International Planned Parenthood Federation and the United Nations Fund for Population Activities;
(23) if he will make a statement on his Department's response to the information contained in the articles by Michael Weisskopf from the Washington Post on the Chinese population control programme deposited by his Department in the Library;
(24) what information he has received on high-tides in the Chinese population programme from Her Majesty's Government's representatives in China; and if he will make a statement;
(25) what information he has on the reasons for the prevalence of third trimester abortions in China;
(26) what information he has on the practices of killing babies (a) during birth and (b) when they are newly born, by doctors in Hohhot, China; and if he will make a statement;
(27) what consideration his Department gives to China's compliance with the right to freely found a family and decide the numbers of children when deciding on the allocation of aid in respect of family planning;
(28) what information he has on the practice of awarding Chinese local officials cash bonuses if they achieve birth targets set by the authorities in Beijing; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. Lennox-BoydThe hon. Gentleman has tabled 28 questions covering one subject area.
The British Government are concerned about all human rights abuses, whether they occur in China or elsewhere. The Government's views are well known to the Chinese, and we have consistently urged them to conform with internationally recognised standards of behaviour.
Questions 57, 63, 112, 118, 127, 130 refer to Chinese Government policies and their implementation. Questions 111, 113, 114, 115, 116, 117, 125, 135 refer to provincial population programmes, and the way in which they are implemented at provincial and local level. Questions 59, 119, 120, 121, 124, 126, 129, 131, 132 refer to allegations about practices which have a bearing on reproductive health and population issues, though these are not necessarily the results of central or provincial Chinese government policies.
The issues raised in all these questions are complex. We do not have ready access to the detailed information that would be required to answer the questions raised. Assembling such information would involve a prohibitive cost.
Questions 58, 61, 62 refer to the work in China of the United Nations Fund for Population Activities. My noble Friend the Minister for Overseas Development will write to the hon. Member with the information that we have received from UNFPA. In answer to question 128, the Government take account of the efforts being made by the 285W International Planned Parenthood Federation and UNFPA to promote better reproductive health and children by choice throughout the world, including their efforts in China, when agreeing the level of support they are to receive from the ODA's budget. Both organisations oppose the promotion of abortion as a method of family planning and all forms of coercion in family planning programmes.
Regarding question 134, the Government do not directly finance family planning projects in China. We continue to advocate that all men and women should be able to choose when to have children, and that women, in particular, should be in a position to exercise this choice of their own free will, without pressure of coercion. Those views are well known to the Chinese authorities.