China has suspended two health officials in a southern county for “ignoring” the case of a child allegedly abducted from his parents by local authorities in the 1990s.
Her parents recently petitioned the police in Guangxi province for an investigation.
But a local health bureau declined to look into the matter, saying it was dropped because of “social redistribution” under China’s former one-child policy. The case has sparked outrage against the authorities on social media.
Many online criticized the strict rules under the one-child policy at the time, calling the incident a “clear case of human trafficking”. This also comes after the recent news of a Chinese mother, who was locked up in a village hut, started a discussion about human trafficking in the countryside of China.
Earlier this week, a letter from the local health bureau in Quanzhou County went viral on Chinese social media. The letter was written in response to a couple’s request to launch an investigation into their seventh child, whom they suspected was abducted in the 1990s.
The couple – nicknamed Tang and Deng – had called the police to see a group of former local officers. According to local news outlets, the parents have never stopped looking for their child and sent several complaints to various government departments.
On 1 July, the local health bureau responded and said that an investigation would not be conducted, as the child was not abducted but taken for “social redistribution” by the then authorities.
“What do they mean by social reallocation? Isn’t this human trafficking?” one person asked. Others shared personal stories of how their families had been affected over the decades by the now-abandoned one-child policy, which was introduced in 1979 to slow China’s booming population growth.
Former editor-in-chief of the Global Times Hu Xijin was among those who weighed in on the matter, calling out the “indifferent” language used in the government statement and how the incident had gone on to stir a “public crisis”.
In an interview with news site Caixin, the child’s mother claimed that the family had already paid fines to their local office for having more than one child. Yet her child was taken away despite this, she alleges.
The hashtag #QuanzhouOverBornKidCaseBeenReportedtoGovernment gained almost 60 million views as millions online began discussing the case and backlash ensued.
On 5 July, the Guilin People’s Government – the administration under which Quanzhou falls- wrote a letter saying the Quanzhou health bureau had “improperly handled a petition that aroused social concern”.
They added that an investigation into the case would be opened and that the director and deputy director of the health bureau would be suspended for ignoring the petition and for “administrative inaction”.