Brendan O'Neill
It is testament to the relentless rise of neo-Malthusianism that people are now openly praising China's one-child policy. At the Copenhagen summit on climate change, Zhao Baige, vice-minister of the National Population and Family Planning Commission of China, said 'population control is key to reaching a climate deal', and none of the Western leaders or radical green activists – who have complained about everything from politicians' use of limousines to the presence of Coca Cola – batted an eyelid (1).
In the run-up to the summit, leading Western greens gave thanks for China's stringent population policies. 'Had there been no "one child family" policy in China there would now have been 400million additional Chinese citizens', said Jonathon Porritt, former chair of the UK government's Sustainable Development Commission (2). An eco-feminist writing in the UK Guardian said, with an almost audible sigh of relief, that there are '300 to 400million fewer people on the planet' as a result of China's one-child policy (3). (A feminist praising authoritarian control over women's reproductive lives? You couldn't make it up.)
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