China detains parents of couples refusing sterilisation

BEIJING - China has cracked down on couples who have violated the country’s family planning policy and refused to go for sterilisation by detaining their family members, including old parents.

About 1,300 people in Puning city in Guangdong province have been detained because someone in their family was reluctant to be sterilised. The detainees were given “lectures” on family planning rules, which does not allow couples to have an extra child, Global Times reported Friday.

The 20-day campaign, launched in the first week of April, intends to surgically sterilize at least 9,559 women or their husbands in the city since they are not allowed to have a second or third child, the report said.

Those who do not come for the surgery voluntarily have seen their mother or father taken away by officials, a statement from the city’s bureau said.

A local newspaper reported that about 100 people, including senior citizens, were seen inside a humid facility at a township family planning centre.

“There were some mats on the floor, but the room was too small for all people to lie down and sleep, so the young ones had to stand or squat. Due to the lack of quilts, many cuddled up to fight the cold,” the paper quoted a person as saying.

“Several days ago, an official called me and asked me or my wife to return for the surgery,” Huang, the father of three girls, said. “Otherwise they would take away my father.”

According to family planning rules, farmers in China are allowed to have a second child if the first child was a girl.