Steven W. Mosher, the internationally recognized China expert who originally alerted the West to that country's one-child policy, denounced the Chinese government's recent statements praising the policy on its 30th anniversary. Mosher further condemned statements by an upper-level Chinese official that the policy will be continued for "decades to come," as terrible news for the Chinese people and for China's future economic growth.

Mosher, who was present in China in 1980 when the policy was originally handed down, calls China's draconian measures an "unmitigated social disaster" that have made China the "ugly poster child of forced abortion and coerced sterilization." As for the Chinese government's glib defense of its population control measures, Mosher says that the policy has existed in part to "help maintain the muscular rigor of the one-party dictatorship that rules China."

"China is a police state, after all," Mosher continues, adding that "such a state, to remain strong, must have something to police. Economic controls have been loosened over the past 30 years, so control over other aspects of life must be tightened. The brutal one-child policy is one consequence of such a system's relentless drive for control over people's lives."

"The Chinese government," Mosher concludes, "supported by foreign population control zealots, believe that its program should be held up as a population control role model for the rest of the world. In reality, it should be roundly condemned for its widespread and systematic violations of human rights, especially the rights of women."

Steven Mosher currently serves as the president of the Population Research Institute and is available for interview on the topic of China's one-child policy.

Contact: Colin Mason