These days any public comment the government makes on the hugely sensitive subject could easily ignite a national debate. The latest example came on February 18, when the National Health Commission – which is in charge of family planning – published on its website a statement saying it encouraged the three northeastern provinces with the lowest birth rates in the country to carry out extensive socio-economic studies on removing birth controls and come up with pilot schemes.
The statement was in response to a motion filed by the local deputies to the
National People’s Congress (NPC), the country’s parliament, urging the central government to allow the three provinces to take the lead in eliminating all birth control policies.
