China to Fine Parents for Second Child in Hong Kong, Daily Says
February 08, 2012, 1:39 PM ESTBy Bloomberg News
Feb. 8 (Bloomberg) -- Chinese couples who give birth to a second child in Hong Kong in breach of the nation’s one-child policy will be fined, the China Daily reported today.
Government officials who give birth in Hong Kong to a second child in violation of the law will be dismissed from their posts, the newspaper reported, citing Zhang Feng, director of the family planning department of Guangdong province, which neighbors the city.
Giving birth in Hong Kong or in other countries and regions still means that parents are violating China’s and Guangdong’s regulations, China Daily cited Zhang as saying.
Cheung Wai-lun, director of hospital groups at Hong Kong’s Hospital Authority, told Radio Television Hong Kong on Jan. 31 that the city’s public hospital may stop admitting foreign pregnant women next year as an influx of mothers from China giving birth in the former British colony strains facilities and spurs local protests.
The quota for foreigners giving birth in public hospitals this year is 3,400, down from 10,000 in 2011, and may be scrapped completely next year, Radio Television Hong Kong cited Cheung as saying.
--Daryl Loo. Editor: John Liu
To contact Bloomberg News staff for this story: Daryl Loo in Beijing at dloo7@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Jason Gale at j.gale@bloomberg.net
