Opinion | Even if China switches to a three-child policy, it shouldn’t force women to have more babies

Haining Liu says China is desperate to defuse a demographic time bomb, as the labour force shrinks and the national pension plan is stretched thin. But the state shouldn’t be pressuring women into motherhood

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China’s one-child policy has become a two-child policy, and there is speculation that the country may even be considering a three-child policy. Photo: Reuters

Published: 2:30pm, 28 Aug 2018Updated: 8:15pm, 28 Aug 2018

As a 30-something single woman living in Beijing, I rarely think about babies. After all, there are quite a few hurdles to overcome – getting married; maintaining a stable, high enough post-tax income to cover living costs; miraculously buying a million-dollar flat in the city that is big enough to raise my future child – before I can even sit at the table and join the discussion.

But my heart still sank when I read a recent post on social media about babies. Specifically, Xinhua Daily, a state-owned newspaper in Jiangsu province, published an article on August 14 suggesting a “reproduction fund” to which citizens under the age of 40, regardless of gender, must contribute every year and from which families with two or more children can get allowances.

The think piece was presenting the policy advice of two academics from Nanjing University. Under their proposal, citizens who do not have two children will get their money back from the fund only when they retire.

A ‘reproduction fund’? Is this a joke?

China’s birth rate is down, despite the country’s transition from a one-child to a two-child policy. Photo: EPA

At first, I could not get my head around the underlying logic of such policy advice. I am an only child. And, if I remember correctly, for much of the past four decades, Chinese families had to pay a heavy penalty for having a second baby. Now, if this advice is ever taken, we will be required to pay a compulsory amount for not having a second child.