(http://msnbcmedia.msn.com/j/MSNBC/Components/Photo/_new/131016-china-one-child-1045a.photoblog600.jpg)Alexander F. Yuan/APParents play with their children at a kid's play area in a shopping mall in Beijing on Jan. 10. By Le Li and Alastair Jamieson, NBC NewsBEIJING -- China has quelled speculation its controversial "one-child" policy is to be scrapped, instead announcing Wednesday that family planning laws to curb the birth rate will remain.
“The policy should be a long-term one and its primary goal is to keep a low birthrate,” Wang Xia, minister in charge of the National Population and Family Planning Commission, said (http://www.npfpc.gov.cn/news/central/201301/t20130116_400227.html).
The pronouncement comes after months of speculation that the decades-old restriction (http://behindthewall.nbcnews.com/_news/2012/11/01/14856974-chinese-say-one-child-is-enough-as-beijing-weighs-end-of-policy?lite) would be abandoned.
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