China should roll back its one-child policyand instead mandate¹ that all couples have two children, a family planningofficial has said, drawing criticism from a ruling Communist Party newspaper(AFP Photo/Wang Zhao)

“中国应该暂缓独生子女计划，建议每对夫妇都生两个孩子。”中国一位计划生育官员近日语出惊人，引来了党报的批评。

Beijing (AFP) -China should roll back its one-child policy and instead mandate that allcouples have two children, a family planning official has said, drawingcriticism Friday from a ruling Communist Party newspaper.

“中国应该暂缓独生子女计划，要求每对夫妇都生两个孩子。”中国一位计划生育官员近日语出惊人，本周五引来了党报的批评。

Mei Zhiqiang,deputy director the Family Planning Commission of Shanxi province, offered therecommendation earlier this week as a way to solve the country's increasinglyproblematic gender² imbalance.

梅志强，现任山西省计划生育委员会副主任。本周他在政协会议上做出了如上的提议，旨在解决中国日渐明显的性别比例失衡问题。

"We shouldmake sure our policy and system allows our children to give birth to twochildren," Mei said, according to a report by the government-run sxrb.comnews website.

“我们应该从政策和制度上允许我们的子女生育两个孩子。”根据山西新闻网的一份报告显示，梅志强在会议上说道。

"And theymust have two children," he added.

“而且一定要生下两个孩子。”他说。

The Global Times,a newspaper affiliated³ with the Communist Party mouthpiece People's Daily, onFriday urged caution when proposing new initiatives, warning that a two-childpolicy "cannot be forced upon Chinese parents".

隶属于《人民日报》的《环球时报》本周五指出应该谨慎提出新的提案，警告二胎政策不应该强加在中国的父母身上。

"Mei'sintention to remodel⁴ China's demographic framework may be earnest, but callingfor a direct administrative⁵ intervention⁶ to enforce a new policy over thisdelicate issue needs to be reconsidered," Global Times writer Liu Zhunwrote in an op-ed.

梅志强改造中国人口结构的意图是真诚的，但在这个敏感的问题上要求直接的行政干预来实施一项新的政策需要重新考虑。《环球时报》作者刘准在一篇社论中这样写道。

In an effort torein in population growth, China in the late 1970s introduced its controversialfamily planning policies, which limit most couples to only one child.

为了控制人口增长，中国从20世纪70年代末就开始实施了富有争议的计划生育政策，大多数的夫妻被限制只能生一个孩子。

The regulationshave led to sometimes brutal⁷ crackdowns on families with more than one child,including forced abortions⁸ and sterilisation as well as the levying⁹ of heftyfines.

这项政策给不少一个孩子以上的家庭带来了残忍的打击，包括堕胎、绝育以及重金罚款。

The policy hasalso exacerbated¹⁰ an existing gender imbalance fed by a traditional desire tohave a son.

由于传统重男轻女观念的影响，这一政策也加重了已有的性别比例失调问题。

The rulingCommunist Party moved to relax the rules in late 2013 to allow couples to havetwo offspring so long as at least one of the parents is an only child. Yet farfewer couples have applied¹¹ to have a second child than expected.

2013年末，当局放松了这一政策，夫妻二人只要至少一人为独生子女就可以生两个孩子。但目前为止，申请生二胎的夫妇远远低于预期。

Liu noted¹² that"an ageing -- and increasingly male -- populace is now starting to posefundamental demographic challenges that officials have been trying toaddress."

环球时报》刘准写到：人口老龄化、男性人口猛增等问题渐渐凸显，已经成为官方一直努力解决的人口构成挑战。

But he added:"It is better to carry forward the new policy through encouragement andincentives, which will be more easily accepted by the people."

但他补充道：“新的二胎政策最好还是以鼓励和奖励的方式来推进，这样更容易被大众接受。”

Nearly 116 boyswere born for every 100 girls in China in 2014, while the sex ratio in thetotal population was 105 men to 100 women.

2014年中国每100个女婴出生就有116名男婴出生，总人口性别比例女比男达到100:105。

The starkimbalance threatens to create widespread social unrest as millions of men areunable to find wives. The problem has also led to an increase in humantrafficking in recent years as women from neighbouring countries, especiallyVietnam, are brought to China to marry single men.

由于人口性别比例失衡，数百万的男性无法娶妻，这将威胁到社会的稳定，同时还导致近年来越来越多的人口贩卖，被贩卖的女性来到中国后嫁给了中国单身男性。被贩卖的女性主要来自越南等邻国。

Mainland China's total population stood at1.37 billion at the end of 2014, according to the National Bureau ofStatistics, an increase of 7.1 million over the end of 2013. It remains¹³ theworld's largest, although India has been catching¹⁴ up in recent years.

根据国家数据显示，截至2014年末中国人口达到了13.7亿人，比去年增加了710万人。中国依然是世界人口第一大国，但印度近年来人口数量迅速追赶中国.