HONG KONG—An ethnic Uyghur woman in China’s northwestern Xinjiangregion who avoided a forced abortion after her case drew international attention has given birth to a son, according to her father.
Hasan Tursunjan said his daughter, Arzigul Tursun, gave birth Feb. 9 to a healthy son weighing three kg at Dadamtu Village Hospital in Gulja [in Chinese, Yining].
But Tursunjan said the child was taken shortly after delivery tothe Women and Children’s Welfare Hospital in Ili prefecture, the same hospital where Arzigul was held when scheduled byfamily planning officials for a forced abortion in November.
"The second day after the baby was born, the prefectural hospitaltook our child and only returned him after three days," Tursunjan said.
"The prefectural hospital ordered the village hospital to bring thechild. They said he didn't have enough sustenance because Arzigul’sstomach was empty when she gave birth," he said.
"When I heard this, I got into an argument with my son-in-law. 'Whyshould you give your child to the prefectural hospital?’ I asked him.Now I’m not sure if this was some kind of trick or not. Why would thehospital take him, especially without either of the parents along?" hesaid.
Police intervention
Tursunjan said local police have kept the family under surveillance, even forbidding them from naming the child according to theirwishes.
"Originally we tried to name him Koresh [struggle], butthe village police bureau told my son-in-law that he could not name himthat. That’s why we named him Umid [hope]," he said.
Police have been wary of the family since Tursun’s planned abortion, scheduled because her pregnancy was in violation of China's aggressive population-control policy, prompted intervention from two members of theU.S. Congress and the U.S. ambassador in Beijing, he said.
Local authorities couldn't be reached to comment.
Police tracked down Arzigul Tursun, six months pregnant with herthird child, in November at a private home after she fled Gulja'smunicipal Water Gate Hospital.
She had been held there by family planning authorities who plannedto force her to abort the child. She was released after her case drewinternational attention.
China's one-child-per-family policy applies mainly to majority HanChinese and allows ethnic minorities, including Uyghurs, to haveadditional children.
Detailed policy
According to China’s official Xinhua news agency, Uyghurs in thecountryside are permitted three children while city-dwellers may havetwo.
Under “special circumstances,” rural families are permitted onemore child, although what constitutes special circumstances was unclear.
And while Tursun is a rural peasant, her husband is fromthe city of Gulja, so their status is ambiguous.
The government also uses financial incentives and disincentives tokeep the birthrate low.
Couples can pay steep fines to have morechildren, though the fines are beyond most people's means.
The official Web site China Xinjiang Web reports that in Kashgar,Hotan, and Kizilsu—areas populated almost entirely by Uyghurs—womenover 49 with only one child are entitled to a one-time payment of 3,000yuan (U.S. $440), with the couple receiving 600 yuan (U.S. $88) yearlyafterward.
China's official Tianshan Net reported that population controlpolicies in Xinjiang have prevented the births of some 3.7 millionpeople over the last 30 years.
The one-child policy is enforced more strictly in cities, butpenalties for exceeding a family's quota can be severe, including jobloss, demotion, or expulsion from the Party, experts say.
Officials at all levels are subject to rewards or penalties based onwhether they meet population targets set by their administrativeregion.
Citizens are legally entitled to sue officials who they believehave overstepped their authority in enforcing the policy.
Tense relations
Relations between Chinese authorities and the predominantly MuslimUyghur population in Xinjiang have a long and tense history, with manyUyghurs objecting in particular to the mass immigration of Han Chineseto the region and to Beijing’s population-control policy.
Uyghurs formed two short-lived East Turkestan republics in the 1930sand 40s during the Chinese civil war and the Japanese invasion.
ButChina subsequently took control of the region, and Beijing has inrecent years launched a campaign against Uyghur separatism, which itcalls a war on Islamic terrorism.
Beijing has also accused “hostile forces” in the West of fomentingunrest in the strategically important and resource-rich region, whichborders several countries in Central Asia.
Original reporting in Uyghur by Shohret Hoshur. Uyghur servicedirector: Dolkun Kamberi. Translated by Dolkun Kamberi. Written andproduced in English by Joshua Lipes. Edited by Sarah Jackson-Han.