China sticking to its 1-child policy for now

The Chinese government said no date has been set for relaxing the country's current family planning policy. Instead the National Health and Family Planning Commission told China Daily that permitting more couples to have two children would be carried out "at the proper time." Media reports last week said China planned to relax its one-child policy by 2015. Currently couples are allowed to have two children if both parents are only children in their respective families. There are several exceptions to the one-child rule that was instituted in the late 1970s. For example, in most rural areas, families can apply to have a second child if their first-born is a daughter. Health commission spokesman Mao Qun'an said earlier that new rules are still under consideration by the central government and that the current policy would prevail in the long run.