“
And that brings us to a disturbing possibility: That Chinese officials will coerce couples—single females are not eligible for birth permits—into having children. "What will the Communist Party do next?" asks Littlejohn. "Will it turn to forced pregnancy? Since coercion is at the core of their population control policy, this possibility cannot be dismissed." Chinese netizens are already concerned about being forced to procreate.
In fact, forced procreation has been on the minds of Chinese officials for years. "We should make sure our policy and system allow our [women] to give birth to two children," said Mei Zhiqiang, deputy director of the Family Planning Commission in Shanxi province, to a Chinese news site in February 2015, on the eve of the adoption of the two-child policy. "And they must have two children."
"Seems it won't be long before the government starts fining those who only have one child," said a poster on the Sina Weibo microblogging site, at the time.
Join the Conversation
VIP members get the ability to comment on articles.