USA: GOVERNMENT COMMITTEE HEARS OF FORCED ABORTIONS IN CHINA

(11 Jun 1998) Mandarin/Eng/Nat

The Chinese government forced abortions and sterilisations on women to maintain China's population control policies, a U-S government committee has heard.

The evidence came during a House International Relations subcommittee hearing just two weeks before U-S President Bill Clinton's trip to China.

One woman, a former government employee, broke down in tears as she apologised for the "brutal things" she did.

The testimony was grim.

Through videotape and personal stories, a Washington subcommittee heard how China's "one child per couple" system functions.

The tactics to prevent unauthorised pregnancies include nighttime raids, forced abortions, destroyed houses and the incarceration of entire families.

Gao Xiao Duan is a former population control administrator in China.

She ran a birth control office that performed abortions and sterilisation procedures - frequently against the will of patients.

Gao said her office paid informants to report on unauthorised pregnancies of neighbours, relatives and friends.

SOUNDBITE: (Mandarin)
"Once I found a woman who was nine months pregnant, but did not have a birth allowed certificate. According to the policy, she was forced to undergo an induced abortion. In the operating room, I saw the child's lips were moving, and how its arms and legs were also moving. The doctor injected poison into its skull, and the child died and it was thrown into the trash can."
SUPER CAPTION: Gao Xiao Duan, Former Chinese Population Control Administrator

Gao told the committee what happens to women who try to escape the system. Their families are held in detention centres until the woman comes forward to be sterilised.

SOUNDBITE: (Mandarin)
"All of those 14 years, I was a monster in the daytime, injuring others by the Chinese Communist Authorities barbaric planned birth policy, but in the evening, I was like all other women and mothers, enjoying my life with my children. I couldn't go on living such a dual life anymore."
SUPER CAPTION: Gao Xiao Duan, Former Chinese Population Control Administrator

Gao broke down and apologised for what she had done.

She said she quit her job earlier this year, fled China and arrived in the United States in April, where she now plans to stay.

China insists its official policy prohibits the use of force to compel people to submit to abortion and sterilisation.

The Chinese government reportedly told U-S administration officials that if the forced sterilisation policies are implemented, they are done under local government control.

But former Chinese prisoner Harry Wu testified that he has documents to show the contrary.

SOUNDBITE: (English)
"Do you find any time in the world, a person has to get a permit from the government to have a baby? Without a permit, they can force you to have an abortion, they can destroy your house, they can find you and detain your parents, your husband and wait for you to come back for an abortion or sterilisation."
SUPER CAPTION: Harry Wu, Chinese Dissident

The Chinese government allows most urban couples to have only one child, and strongly discourages rural families from having more than two.

White House spokesman Mike McCurry said the issue will be discussed during President Clinton's upcoming trip to China that starts in two weeks.

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