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Query: Does the relatively lax enforcement of the one-child policy for
those returning with a second (or third) child apply to all overseas
Chinese, or only to professionals who left China legally?
Specifically, would peasants or workers also be treated leniently if
they were suspected of having left China illegally in order to evade
family planning regulations? Response: SUMMARY According to sources contacted by the Resource Information Center
(RIC), Chinese authorities seem to be dealing relatively leniently
with citizens who return to China with two or more children,
particularly students and professionals. If they are punished at all
for violating family planning policies, it is generally with fines
rather than more severe measures, although the fines can be steep.
Experts consulted by the RIC had little information about whether
this lenience extends to workers and peasants. Some critics of China's strict family planning policies allege,
however, that local officials in some areas have punished returning
overseas violators of the one-child policy with forced sterilizations
and other physical abuse. While it is not clear whether these
harsher penalties have been applied disproportionately to returning
workers and peasants, in general the use of fines rather than more
extreme punitive measures seems to be the norm in China. TREATMENT OF RETURNING WORKERS AND PEASANTS According to a China Desk officer at the U.S. State Department,
anecdotal evidence suggests that workers and peasants are often
forced to pay fines when they return to China after having more than
one child abroad (U.S. DOS 11 Jun 2002). Fines can equal several years' wages for an average worker,
according to the U.S. State Department's March 2002 report on China's
human rights record in 2001. The report said that other punishments
for couples who violate local family planning policies include
withholding of social services, higher tuition costs when children go
to school, demotion, and, at times, loss of jobs (U.S. DOS Mar
2002). Some couples failing to pay fines have had homes or other property
confiscated or destroyed by local officials, the State Department
report added. The report also noted that corruption relating to the
collection of family planning fines "is a widespread problem" (U.S.
DOS Mar 2002). The report did not, however, address specifically the
treatment of workers and peasants who return to China with more than
one child. The State Department's China Desk said that there is little
evidence that workers and peasants have been targeted specifically
because they are suspected of having left China illegally to evade
the one-child policy (U.S. DOS 11 Jun 2002). A University of California (Irvine) anthropologist who is an
expert on China's family planning program, and who co-wrote a 2001
RIC report on the topic, said she has little information about
whether returning workers and peasants who violated birth control
policies while abroad receive the same lenient treatment as students
and professionals. She noted that, in general, Chinese citizens who
have "above-quota" children while abroad generally are treated more
leniently than those who violate quotas inside China (Expert 11, 12
Jun 2002). The 2001 RIC report co-authored by the expert notes that "[t]he
question frequently arises whether Chinese couples who have an
unauthorized child while residing abroad are likely to face penalties
upon returning to China. The evidence available suggests that, in
many if not most cases, the answer is no" (RIC Sep 2001). The
report, however, discussed this question largely in relation to
returning students and other educated Chinese, as opposed to workers
and peasants. A China specialist at the U.S. Census Bureau's International
Programs Center said that while she has no specific information about
the treatment of returning workers and peasants who violated Chinese
birth control policies while abroad, she suspects that treatment in
individual cases depends on the person's dependence on the state for
jobs and basic services. Workers and peasants returning to China
with more than one child, particularly those who are not working in
the state sector, might be able to avoid problems with local
bureaucrats until they try to access local services such as schooling
for their children, she said (China specialist 12 Jun 2002). The State Department China Desk officer said that most reports
about the treatment of returnees come from urban areas and that there
was little information about the treatment of returnees in rural
areas. This lack of information could reflect the fact that most
peasants and workers who return to China after living abroad often do
not resettle in rural areas, even if they have rural roots (U.S. DOS
11 Jun 2002). In any case, the strictest family planning policies apply mainly
in the cities rather than in rural areas, where 70 percent of Chinese
live. Couples in urban areas "seldom" receive permission to have
more than one child (U.S. DOS Mar 2002). Nevertheless, there was
some evidence that the Chinese government was relaxing this policy.
For example, in most major cities, parents with no siblings may have
two children (U.S. DOS Mar 2002). Family planning policies are more lenient in rural China and in
ethnic minority provinces. Rural couples generally are allowed to
have a second child if their first child is a girl. Meanwhile,
Uighurs, Tibetans, and other ethnic minorities in some rural areas
are allowed as many as four children (U.S. DOS Mar 2002). DEBATE OVER WHETHER THE ONE-CHILD POLICY HAS BECOME MORE LENIENT Some China observers question the notion that Chinese authorities
are easing up in their implementation of the one-child policy. A retired China analyst at the U.S. Census Bureau rejected
suggestions that the Chinese government has formally relaxed the one-child policy in some urban areas. "Some relaxation may be taking
place," he said in a telephone interview, "but it's not policy, it's
weakness in the administrative structure" (Retired analyst 11 Jun
2002). The retired analyst, who now provides expert testimony on behalf
of Chinese women seeking asylum in the United States, says he has
heard reports of returnees who violated the one-child policy being
detained for short periods. He said that the Chinese government has
little incentive to be lenient with workers and peasants who have
more than one child while abroad because it wants to deter them from
leaving the country in order to evade the strict birth control
measures. He also stated that he has criticized the U.S. State
Department for what he says is inadequate emphasis on the coercive
aspect of China's family planning policies. Testifying before the
Australian Senate in October 1999, he accused the U.S. State
Department of issuing "a series of documents for use by our
immigration judges and INS attorneys which denied the seriousness of
the coercion problem" (Commonwealth 21 Oct 1999). His testimony came
at an Australian Senate committee hearing convened in part to look
into the case of a pregnant Chinese woman who allegedly faced a
forced abortion after being returned to China by Australian
authorities, who denied her asylum claim (Commonwealth 21 Oct 1999).
In the telephone interview, the retired analyst cited this case as
evidence of abuses against returnees who violated the one-child
policy (Retired analyst 11 Jun 2002). Prominent human rights activist Harry Wu told the U.S. Congress in
October 2001 that in the eastern Chinese city of Tianjin, which is
one of four cities under direct central government control, "cadres
at all levels" use forced abortion and sterilization to meet rigid
birth control quotas. Testifying before the International Relations
Committee of the House of Representatives, Mr. Wu, the executive
director of the Washington-based Laogai Research Foundation and a
Hoover Institution Fellow, said that these extreme measures are used
because Tianjin holds the heads of state work units directly
responsible for all births by employees in their charge (HR 17 Oct
2001). Other observers, however, suggest that such abuses are more the
exception than the rule. "Scattered evidence suggests that in some
places where couples insist on having more children than allowed,
cadres continue to use heavyhanded, even abusive, measures,"
according to the RIC report co-authored by the UCI anthropologist
(RIC Sep 2001). The report added, however, that, "[t]here is no way
to know how widespread such practices are" (RIC Sep 2001). According to the State Department China Desk officer, some
counties in China might indeed be stricter than others in enforcing
birth control policies. In general, however, officials do not resort
to anything worse than fines to punish returning workers and peasants
who violated policy while abroad (U.S. DOS 11 Jun 2002). The retired U.S. Census Bureau analyst said that sources in China
have told him that the Chinese government is now less lenient even
with returning students who have more than one child while abroad.
The analyst believes this is because there is less concern that China
is experiencing a "brain drain" of educated professionals, so
officials see less need to be lenient toward students (Retired
analyst 11 Jun 2002). Amnesty International's 2002 annual human rights report for China
notes that perpetrators of torture and ill-treatment, which it says
are widespread in China, include, among others, birth control
officials. The report, however, does not provide details on the
extent of torture by birth control officials (AI Jun 2002). This response was prepared after researching publicly accessible
information currently available to the RIC within time constraints.
This response is not, and does not purport to be, conclusive as to
the merit of any particular claim to refugee status or asylum. References: Amnesty International (AI). REPORT 2002, "China" (Jun 2002),
http://web.amnesty.org/web/ar2002.nsf/asa/china!Open [Accessed 11 Jun
2002] China specialist, U.S. Bureau of Census International Programs
Center. Telephone interview (12 Jun 2002). Commonwealth of Australia, Senate Legal and Constitutional
References Committee (Commonwealth). "Operation of Australia's
Refugee and Humanitarian Program" (21 Oct 1999),
http://www.aph.gov.au/hansard/senate/commttee/s2726.pdf [Accessed 11
Jun 2002] Expert on China's family planning policy. Emails to the INS
Resource Information Center (Irvine, CA: 11, 12 Jun 2002). Immigration & Naturalization Service, Resource Information Center
(RIC). CHINESE STATE BIRTH PLANNING IN THE 1990S AND BEYOND.
Perspective Series (PS/CHN/01.001, Sep 2001),
http://www.ins.usdoj.gov/graphics/services/asylum/ric/documentation/pschn01001.pdf [Accessed 11 Jun 2002] Retired analyst, U.S. Bureau of Census. Telephone interview
(Silver Spring, MD: 11 Jun 2002). U.S. Department of State (U.S. DOS). Telephone interview with
China Desk officer (Washington, DC: 11 Jun 2002). U.S. Department of State (U.S. DOS). COUNTRY REPORTS ON HUMAN
RIGHTS PRACTICES FOR 2001, "China" (Washington, D.C.: Mar 2002),
http://www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/hrrpt/2001/eap/8289.htm [Accessed 11
Jun 2002] U.S. House of Representatives, 107th Congress, First Session (HR).
"Coercive Population Control in China: New Evidence of Forced
Abortion and Forced Sterilization," Hearing Before the Committee on
International Relations (17 Oct 2001),
http://commdocs.house.gov/committees/intlrel/hfa75761.000/hfa75761_0f.htm [Accessed 11 Jun 2002] |
