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China's reported plan to scrap its decades-long family planning policy could help prevent impoverished women from other parts of Asia being trafficked into the country to meet demand for brides, campaigners said on Wednesday.
The world's most populous nation appears to be setting the stage to end its policy of determining the number of children that couples can have, which has left fewer women than men as Chinese families traditionally prefer sons.
Chinese men who struggle to find a wife locally often turn to illicit marriage brokers who recruit women from nations like Vietnam, Cambodia, Myanmar and Laos and sell them as brides, rights groups say.
But campaigners were cautiously hopeful after a Chinese state-run newspaper said this week that all content on family planning has been dropped in a draft civil code being considered by top lawmakers, signalling a possible end to the policy.
The United States, Australia, France and Britain will open new embassies in the Pacific, boost staffing levels, and engage with leaders of island nations more often in a bid to counter China's rising influence in the region, sources have told Reuters.The battle for influence in the sparsely populated Pacific matters because each of the tiny island states has a vote at international forums like the United Nations, and they also control vast swathes of resource-rich ocean.China has spent $1.3 billion on concessionary loans and gifts since 2011 to become the Pacific's second-largest donor after Australia, stoking concern in the West that several tiny nations could end up overburdened and in debt to Beijing.In response, Australia, New Zealand and the United States say they will increase economic aid and expanding their diplomatic presence to countries in the region, government officials and diplomats told Reuters.Indonesia, Australia hope to announce economic partnership on Friday"We are concerned about Chinese practices that lead to unsustainable debt," said a U.S. government source with direct knowledge of Washington's plan for the region, who spoke on condition of anonymity.The U.S. official said Washington needed to have adequate representation in the Pacific countries in order to let their governments know what options were open to them and the consequences of taking offers from elsewhere.China's embassy in Australia did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Earlier this year, China's ambassador said Beijing was careful to ensure that borrowers were able to meet debt repayments.The U.S. government source said Washington would boost diplomatic staffing numbers in Palau, the Federated States of Micronesia and potentially Fiji within the next two years.Strong quake sends small waves radiating out to South Pacific islandsAustralia's government is expected to name its first High Commissioner to Tuvalu within weeks, rushing to fill a post Canberra decided upon establishing only several months ago, a government source told Reuters. He declined to be identified as he is not authorised to talk to the media.Britain will open new High Commissions in Vanuatu, Tonga and Samoa by the end of May 2019, while French President Emmanuel Macron is seeking to organise a meeting of Pacific leaders early next year, diplomatic and government sources have told Reuters.Earlier this month, Tongan Prime Minister 'Akilisi Pōhiva sought support from other governments in the region to make a coordinated request for China to forgive mounting debts. The Pacific leader then abruptly backed down after Beijing complained about the plan.Palau and Tuvalu both recognise Taiwan, which is claimed by Beijing as a Chinese territory, and has become one of China's most sensitive issues.Australia bans China's Huawei from mobile network project, angers BeijingNAVAL DIPLOMACYChina isn't only offering funds to build influence.By the end of 2018, Fiji expects to receive a Hydrographic vessel that can map the sea bed, Viliame Naupoto, the head of Fiji's armed forces told Reuters. It will be the first military gift from China to a Pacific nation, and Western diplomats saw it as an attempt by Beijing to find favour with Fiji, one of the region's larger economies."Fiji has a strong economy on the back of a vibrant tourism sector, it will have plenty of finance options," said a former Australian diplomat.The Western allies are also working on building relations. Forces from Papua New Guinea, Fiji and Tonga will next week join two weeks of military drills off Australia's northern coast, along with personnel from the United States, France and Japan. China is also attending at the invitation of host nation Australia."There is a sustained push by allies in the region. The Indo-Pacific is a large body of water; a strong navy makes for a strong national defence," Andrea Thompson, U.S. Under Secretary for International Security and Arms Control told Reuters.
To counter China, West plans bigger footprint in Pacific
"This is good news, although it will take a long time to realise the impact," said Michael Brosowski, founder of Hanoi-based charity Blue Dragon Children's Foundation, which rescues Vietnamese trafficking victims. "Countries such as Vietnam have been battling the trafficking of their women into slavery in China, and until the demographic disparity is dealt with, there's simply no way to stop this from happening," he told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.
China has been loosening its family planning policy as its population ages, birth rates slow and its workforce declines.
In 2016, the government allowed couples in urban areas to have two children, replacing a one-child policy enforced since 1979.
Any relaxation of China's family planning policy is welcome, but the effects could take a generation, said Diep Vuong, president of the U.S.-based Pacific Links Foundation, which campaigns against the trafficking of Vietnamese people
China's Foreign Ministry, asked on Wednesday about U.S. President Donald Trump's claim that China hacked the emails of 2016 Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, said such allegations were nothing new.China is a champion of cybersecurity and opposes all forms of hacking attacks, ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying told a daily news briefing in Beijing.Trump blames China for hacking of Clinton emails, offers no evidence
Nothing new, China says about Trump accusation of Clinton email hack
"Female babies born now won't be of marriageable age for many years," she said.
More than 3,000 people in Vietnam, most of them women and children, were trafficked between 2012 and 2017, many across the border into China, Vietnamese officials said this month.
In its 2018 annual global report on human trafficking, the the U.S. State Department placed China in Tier 3 - the worst category, designating countries with governments that fail to make efforts to meet minimum anti-trafficking standards.
Among other issues, the report cited "forced and fraudulent marriages" of foreign women in China.
U.S. President Donald Trump said on Twitter early on Wednesday China hacked the emails of former presidential candidate Hillary Clinton but did not offer any evidence or further information."Hillary Clinton’s Emails, many of which are Classified Information, got hacked by China. Next move better be by the FBI & DOJ or, after all of their other missteps (Comey, McCabe, Strzok, Page, Ohr, FISA, Dirty Dossier etc.), their credibility will be forever gone!" he tweeted a little after midnight on Wednesday. Hillary Clinton’s Emails, many of which are Classified Information, got hacked by China. Next move better be by the FBI & DOJ or, after all of their other missteps (Comey, McCabe, Strzok, Page, Ohr, FISA, Dirty Dossier etc.), their credibility will be forever gone!— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) 29 Ağustos 2018 Google responds to Trump, says no political motive in search resultsTrump accuses Google of hiding 'fair media' coverage of himGerman, US companies concerned despite EU trade truce with TrumpTrump bows to pressure, orders flags lowered for McCain
Trump blames China for hacking of Clinton emails, offers no evidence
Chinese men typically pay between $10,000 and $20,000 to brokers for a foreign wife, according to a 2016 United Nations report that said a "significant" number of Cambodian women have wed in China in recent years.
Im Phanim, from the Cambodian women's rights group Silaka, warned that loosening China's two-child policy alone would not be enough to end bride trafficking.
"Cambodian women are going abroad because of a lack of economic resources here," he told the Thomson Reuters Foundation by phone from Phnom Penh.
"We need to boost the economic empowerment for women so they know they have a choice at home."