Beijing’s draconian ‘one-child policy’ led to ‘the largest destruction of human capital that the world has ever seen,’ says China expert Steven Mosher.
The Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) “destruction of human capital” over the past decades has not only jeopardized its ambition but also “killed off its future,” according to Steven Mosher, president of the Population Research Institute.
In the 1980s, the CCP rolled out the “one-child policy,” strictly limiting couples to having only one baby. Those who defied the policy faced punishment, including heavy fines, job loss, and forced abortions. Officials argued that the rule was necessary for the nation’s economic prosperity and long-term development.
However, in response to a shrinking labor force and a rapidly aging population, the authorities are taking measures to boost birth rates.
“They’re beginning to realize that they have, in effect, strangled the China dream of world domination in the cradle,” Mr. Mosher said in an interview with EpochTV’s “American Thought Leaders” program, which premieres on Oct. 26.
“With China’s economy on the downturn, with China’s population aging and dying more rapidly than any human population has in the history of the planet, the 21st century will not belong to China, in part because of the continued misrule of the Chinese Communist Party. But in large part because of the killing off of half of the last few generations.”
According to Mr. Mosher, who was among the first U.S. social scientists to live and work among villagers in China in the late 1970s, the “one-child policy” led to “the largest destruction of human capital that the world has ever seen.” He noted that officials at China’s Family Planning Commission touted that the policy prevented “400 million” births, claiming that the rule reduced the pressure on resources and environment.
The loss of 400 million births, however, would inevitably cause damage to the country’s economy over time, said Mr. Mosher. “It’s what has happened,” he added.
China is grappling with a growing economic challenge as its real estate sector—a major contributor to the country’s GDP as noted by Mr. Mosher—is in crisis.
By Dorothy Li and Jan Jekielek
