China’s leaders want more babies, but local officials resist

In this Jan. 19, 2019, photo, a nurse feeds a newborn baby at a hospital in Fuyang in central China's Anhui province. Facing a future demographic crisis and aging society, China's leaders are desperate to encourage higher fertility rates. But the country's bureaucrats don't seem to have gotten the message, fining a couple in a recent widely publicized case for having a third child against the strict letter of the law. That has sparked outrage among the public, who are venting their anger at officials who long persecuted couples for violating the now-scrapped "one-child policy."(Chinatopix via AP) In this Jan. 19, 2019, photo, a nurse feeds a newborn baby at a hospital in Fuyang in central China's Anhui province. Facing a future demographic crisis and aging society, China's leaders are desperate to encourage higher fertility rates. But the country's bureaucrats don't seem to have gotten the message, fining a couple in a recent widely publicized case for having a third child against the strict letter of the law. That has sparked outrage among the public, who are venting their anger at officials who long persecuted couples for violating the now-scrapped "one-child policy."(Chinatopix via AP)

By Associated Press February 18, 2019 6 min read

In this Feb. 17, 2019, photo, Chinese people bring their babies to a park in Beijing. Facing a future demographic crisis and aging society, China’s leaders are desperately seeking to persuade couples to have more children. But the country’s bureaucrats don’t seem to have gotten the message, fining a couple in a recent widely publicized case for having a third child against the strict letter of the law. (AP Photo/Andy Wong)

BEIJING (AP) – Facing a future demographic crisis and aging society, China’s leaders are desperately seeking to persuade couples to have more children.

But bureaucrats don’t seem to have gotten the message, fining a couple in a recent widely publicized case for having a third child against the strict letter of the law.

The move has sparked public outrage as people vent their anger at population control officials who are hungry for revenue and have long persecuted couples for violating the now-scrapped “one-child policy.”

“The country is doing all it can to encourage childbirth but the local governments need money, so we end with this sort of madness,” a columnist and political commentator who writes under the name Lianpeng said on China’s Weibo microblogging service.

“The low birthrate has everyone on edge, yet the local governments care only about collecting fees,” journalist Jin Wei wrote on her verified Weibo account. “I don’t know of any other nation that pulls its people in different directions like this.”