Guangdong tightens control on births abroad

GUANGZHOU - Tougher measures preventing local government workers and Communist Party of China (CPC) members from having additional births abroad have been rolled out by authorities in south China's Guangdong Province.

Workers and CPC members in Guangdong will either be dismissed from their posts or expelled from the Party if found to have broken the one-child policy by having additional births in Hong Kong or other countries, according to a newly released birth-control regulation.

China's family planning policy is not applicable in Hong Kong.

Some parents, including government workers and Party members, choose to give birth of additional babies in Hong Kong to dodge the policy.

The regulation also rules that government workers and Party members should register for their first birth or get official approval even if they are qualified for additional births.

China adopted the family planning policy around 1980 to rein in the country's growing population. It encouraged late marriages and pregnancies, as well as limiting most urban couples to one child and most rural couples to two.

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