Madam, - In support of China's one-child policy, Seamus McKenna (April 17th) claims that "the human population grows by a billion people every 11 years, and where it is set to double in the next 60 years, this problem makes global warming and climate change seem almost trivial by comparison." In light of the fact that the one-child policy is responsible for the prevention of some 400 million births, Mr McKenna prophesies that one day "the rest of the world will salute China for this achievement".
Such a hypothesis is grossly and dangerously mistaken on two crucial but oft-neglected points. Firstly, contrary to Mr McKenna's claims, the United Nations Population Division (UNPD) estimated in 2005 that by mid-century the world's population will peak at somewhere between 8 and 9 billion people. Thereafter it is predicted that the overall population will decline. Most people are shocked to learn this, no doubt because of the decades-long campaign of misinformation from population control activists.
Secondly, and even more shocking, are the methods, including forced abortions and sterilisations, used by Chinese officials to enforce the one-child policy. For instance, in 2001 the Guangdong provincial government ordered 25,000 abortions to be carried out in Huaiji county as a response to laxity in the local "family planning programme". It is not unusual for "family planning centres" to have cells in which to detain women for resisting having an abortion or being sterilised.
Indeed, women are the prime targets of the one-child policy: the vast majority of those aborted are girls, since they are considered less economically valuable than boys. One would expect feminists to be outraged at such an atrocity. Yet the Chinese Family Plannng Association (CFPA) is a proud member of the International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF), the world's leading abortion provider, of which the Irish Family Planning Association (IFPA) is a member also. On its website the IPPF claims to "eliminate gender biases, especially those that threaten the well-being of women and girls".
Unbelievably, the one-child policy continues to receive funding from the UNFPA. Readers may find it uncomfortable to learn that this organisation is a regular recipient of Irish taxpayers' money.
If the day ever arrives when we "salute" China for any of this, Nuremberg will have found its echo in history. - Yours, etc,
THOMAS FINEGAN,
Silloge,
Navan,
Co Meath.