Family planning fines balloon but spending details remain elusive
Print Edition
A TOTAL of 24 provinces levied more than 20 billion yuan (US$3.29 million) in fines for extra births last year, but they refused to reveal how they had spent such a huge amount of money.
Ten other provinces haven’t even publicized the figures despite a public call following two sensational cases namely famed film director Zhang Yimou having three children before marriage and a villager, a father of five, killing himself over unaffordable fines.
Xinhua news agency reported, however, that the fine chaos is deeply rooted.
The National Health and Family Planning Commission said the fines don’t go to the national treasury or relevant authorities.
And rules don’t indicate that the money should be used only for family planning-related activities, Xinhua said.
In fact, according to a lawyer, authorities have been shirking their responsibility by not supervising the money collected through the extra-birth fines. Thus the public’s right to know is compromised and the government’s credibility is damaged, the lawyer added.
Besides lack of supervision, each area has a different standard because authorities have the right to decide how much to fine. And in most cases, family planning officials can seek lenient fines from poor families or their acquaintances.
This also leads to officials abusing their powers by extracting excessive fines and then siphoning off the national assets for personal use, Xinhua found.
The National Audit Office looked into the accounts of 45 counties in nine provinces recently, after drawing flak for failing to launch a thorough investigation.
The results revealed violations, such as officials holding back or embezzling fines, which was prevalent in every county. Some regional family planning authorities were found using the fine money for hosting banquets, Xinhua reported.
There has been a clamor for authorities to publicize details of extra-birth fines for long, much before Zhang Yimou’s case came to light.
On December 2, authorities in the eastern city of Wuxi confirmed that Zhang’s three children were all born out of wedlock and in violation of China’s family planning policy.
The film-maker never paid any fines but his children all got hukou or residence registration.
A local officer responded by saying that it was just a special case, triggering a public outcry over the extra privileges enjoyed by the rich and elite.
In contrast, Ai Guangdong, a villager of Qiuxian County in Hebei Province, committed suicide at the village party chief’s home by drinking pesticide on December 4 because he couldn’t pay the fines.
The Party chief of Gongbao Village, Ai Liankun, reportedly led a group of five who forcibly removed almost 3,500 kilograms of corn from Ai Guangdong’s fields. Growing corn was the only source of income for Ai Guangdong’s family of seven, including his five children — four girls and a little boy.
The villager’s death alerted local authorities and an initial investigation found that Ai Liankun had been acting on his own when he fined Ai Guangdong. Only family planning officials can charge the fees. Ai Liankun has since been expelled from the Party and suspended from his position.
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