BEIJING, May 1 (Xinhua) -- The Chinese government will not slacken its family planning law enforcement and will continue to punish those who break it, a senior Chinese family planning official has warned.

    Zhang Weiqing, director of the National Population and Family Planning Commission, said in an interview with the "Qiushi" (Seeking Truth From Facts) magazine family planning was having beneficial affects.

    The government offers around 1,200 yuan (150 U.S. dollars) a year to rural couples who have only one child or two daughters, as an acknowledgement of their contribution to the birth control drive.

    Zhang stressed that both encouragement and punishment are needed to carry out family planning to avoid birth rates from bouncing back. Village officials, if they abided by the regulation, will be role models for villagers.

    China began to implement the family planning policy requiring most people to have only one child in the early 1970s. Those who violate the regulation face large fines. Enditem

¡¡  One child law will be enforced on rich, powerful: official

    BEIJING, May 1 (Xinhua) -- A senior Chinese family planning official says the government will enforce the one child law on the rich and powerful, stressing they have "no privileges".

    Zhang Weiqing, director of the National Population and Family Planning Commission, says in an interview with the "Qiushi" (Seeking Truth From Facts) magazine, the government will take serious measures to solve the problem that many celebrities, private business people and some officials violate the family planning law by having more than one child.

    Admitting that such problems existed, he stressed that all people are equal before the law and people who break the law should be penalized.

    China began to practice family planning in the early 1970s and implemented the Population and Family Planning Law in 2002, allowing most couples to have only one child.

    Those who violate the law are normally forced to pay a large fine, but such sanctions fail to deter the rich and powerful.

    Blaming poor management and certain "complicated reasons" for the problem, Zhang pledged the government would find ways to address it. Enditem

    Official calls for criminalization of sex identification

    BEIJING, May 1 (Xinhua) -- A senior Chinese official has called on the legislature to criminalize the sex identification of embryos for non-medical purposes.

    "Some people will not dare cross the line if there is legal deterrent," said Zhang Weiqing, director of the National Population and Family Planning Commission, in the "Qiushi" (Seeking Truth From Facts) magazine.

    "The major reason for China's rising gender imbalance is the entrenched concept that boys are better than girls. The direct reason is the abuse of ultrasound technology. Does the imbalance have something to do with family planning? Yes, but there is no direct connection."

    Statistics from the National Population and Family Planning Commission show 117 boys born for every 100 girls in China, well above the international average of 104 to 107 boys.

    The government has pledged to control the gender imbalance within five years, but Zhang said financial, educational and legal means were needed to crack down on gender selection and abortion for non-medical purposes.

    A draft amendment to the criminal law has been submitted to the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress for review, providing penalties of up to three years in jail, probation and fines for those involved in gender identification of embryos for non-medical purposes.

    But lawmakers hold sharply divided opinions on the provision, with some arguing it is necessary to curb the country's abnormal sex ratio and prevent the use of abortion as a means of sex selection, while others contend that the law is unreasonable and impossible to police as evidence of the proposed crime would be difficult to gather. Enditem