China population: plan to lift birth restrictions in the northeast panned for not tackling economic roots of crisis
- China’s National Health Commission has suggested the northeast provinces of Heilongjiang, Liaoning and Jilin can experiment with lifting birth restrictions
- But the proposal has been criticised by Chinese online, who say it fails to address the cause of the problem which is the region’s stagnating economy
The northeast provinces of Heilongjiang, Liaoning and Jilin can experiment with lifting restrictions after more research is done to ascertain the impact on the local economy, the National Health Commission said in a statement from last August that was released on Wednesday.
The announcement followed a proposal from vice-governor of Liaoning province, Chen Xiangqun, to the National People’s Congress (NPC) last May in which he proposed the northeast become the first region to drop China’s strict birth restrictions. He also called for more central government investment in childcare and preschool education.
But the idea has failed to catch the imagination of many people online.
“I think the root of the problem is that the government does not have a good plan for the development of the northeast. If you don’t develop the economy there, how can they raise children?” said one widely shared comment on Weibo, China’s version of Twitter.
