China forecasts instability from 30 million surplus men

BEIJING (Jan 12, 2007): Chinese officials are concerned that up to 30 million surplus men will fuel social instability over the next 15 years.

A report by the State Population and Family Planning Commission forecasts that the surplus of adult males over females of marriageable age will reach 30 million in 2020, the official Xinhua news agency reported today.

The growing imbalance means that men will find it more difficultto find wives, especially those with low income or little education.

"This will create social instability," the agency said.

China's gender imbalance is already helping to cause social problems, including rampant prostitution and trafficking in women.

The State Population and Family Planning Commission said the male-female ratio for live births in 2005 was 118:100, up from110:100 in 2000.

In some areas the ratio is as high as 130:100, while even in affluent cities like Beijing the ratio reached 109:100 in the first11 months of 2006, the commission said.

Since China launched its one child-policy in the late 1970s, the traditional preference for boys has led to more illegal gender-selective abortions and sometimes the abandonment of baby girls.

"Discrimination against the female sex remains the primary cause of China's growing gender imbalance," the agency quoted Liu Bohong of the All-China Women's Federation as saying.

Liu said the gender imbalance is not a result of the family-planning policy.

"It is more a result of the deep-rooted notion in Chinese culture that men are superior to women," she said.

China's population has grown to 1.3 billion and government experts believe it would have swelled to about 1.7 billion without the one-child policy.

Local officials imposed fines on people who violated the policy and in some areas used compulsory abortions, sterilisation and other draconian measures to enforce the policy.

Many areas of China have also tried to reduce the number of abortions of female foetuses by banning ultra sound scans and other methods of detecting gender in the womb.

The government launched a "care for girls" campaign in 2000 and offers cash incentives to rural families without boys.

"But these policies have not had the desired effect," the agency said. - dpa

China dislodges Japan as World's No.2 carmaker

BEIJING (Jan 12, 2007): China has overtaken Japan as the world's second largest vehicle market after the US in 2006 as growing affluence in the world's fastest-growing economy boosted car ownership.

The China Association of Automobile Manufacturers said the number of units sold rose 25% to 7.2 million out of the 7.28 million units that rolled off production lines.

Xinhua News Agency said yesterday sales of passenger car surged 30% to 5.18 million units while that of commercial vehicles reached two million units.

According to a Bernama report yesterday, new vehicle sales outstripped used cars by three fold in contrast to theUS, where used cars were two to three times higher than new models.

The top 10 marques accounted for 84% of sales.

hanghai Automotive Industry, First Automobile Works and Dong Feng Motor topped the list with sales of 1.22 million, 1.17 million and 932,300 vehicles respectively.

China upholds jail term for blind rights activist

BEIJING (Jan 12, 2007): A Chinese court today upheld a guilty verdict and jail term for a blind human rights activist who provided legal services for peasants, illustrating China's determination to rein in dissent.

The court in the eastern province of Shandong confirmed a lower court sentence of four years and three months for Chen Guangcheng on charges that critics say were concocted by officials angry at his exposure of forced late-term abortions.

"Chen was convicted of damaging public property and organising a mob to disrupt traffic and pressuring the government," the Xinhua news agency said.

Linyi Intermediate People's Court, which had ordered a re-hearing of the case after Chen's attorneys were barred from defending him during the first trial in Yinan in August, had now issued a final verdict, Xinhua said.

The Yinan court held a retrial and allowed the lawyers Chen appointed to defend him in November but stuck to its earlier ruling.

Chen subsequently appealed to the Linyi court.

"(It) held that the local court's decision had been based on facts and prevalent laws and the jail term had been meted out appropriately," Xinhua said.

Chen, 35, who has been blind since childhood, is known as a self-taught "barefoot lawyer" for providing legal advice to peasants who say they have been victimised by official abuses.

His wife, Yuan Weijing, said the court had yet to notify her of the final verdict but added that she had expected the result.

"I am really angry. It is just lawless here. They can make up whatever charges and put you behind bars," Yuan said by telephone from her home village where she is being held under virtual house arrest.

She said with the days her husband had already spent in formal custody since last June, Chen would have to serve until September 2010.

Repeated calls to the Linyi court went unanswered today.

Chinese activists have said the heavy sentence shows officials are clamping down on "rights defenders", a network of lawyers and activists seeking to expand freedoms through litigation and Internet-driven campaigns.

Hu Jia, a Beijing-based rights campaigner and Chen's friend, said he was "very disappointed" at the ruling and said the outlook was "grim" for fellow activists ahead of the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

"Resorting to high-handed measures to ensure stability of the rule goes against the Olympic spirits of freedom, justice and safeguarding human rights," Hu said.

A court in Ningbo in the coastal province of Zhejiang held a closed-door trial today of a Chinese dissident writer accused of incitement to subvert state power.

Li Hong was arrested in September for posting "subversive" articles on the Internet and a verdict was expected in about two weeks, his lawyer, Li Jianqiang, told Reuters.