Press Conference Remembers 30th Anniversary of the One-Child Policy
WASHINGTON, D.C.—Before Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao leaves the U.S., human rights activists say President Obama should bring up a topic that is as important as it is underreported: the systematic destruction of tens of millions of unborn babies, overwhelmingly female.
It began on Sept. 25, 1980, almost 30 years ago to the day. After two years of policy formulation, the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party promulgated its plan to launch a one-size-fits-all approach to reproduction, the coercive family planning scheme known as the one-child policy.
The architects of the policy were actually elite scientists in the military establishment—at that time in China almost all science was military science—who applied theories of cybernetics to disputed sociological theories from the West, redefining China’s population problem along the lines of the hard science of complex machine systems. The result was a radical solution to the perceived “overpopulation” problem, led by one of China’s leading strategic weaponeers, according to the extensive research of Dr. Susan Greenhalgh from the University of California, Irvine.
The resultant “cruel and inhumane policy” and the brutal way it is implemented are among the worst human rights abuses in the world, according to speakers at an event held on Sept. 24 to commemorate the anniversary of the policy's initiation. Led by Congressman Chris Smith, supported by Congressman Trent Franks, the speakers gathered near the Capitol Building's East Front, in the heat, giving their views for close to an hour...
