A high-profile Chinese economist has been banned from posting on the Weibo social media platform, after sparking controversy over suggestions that the central bank had committed $314 billion to encourage people to have more children. Fertility Fund” has been established. The Weibo account of Ren Zepping, the former chief economist of debt-laden property giant China Evergrande Group, where he has 3.6 million followers, issued a notice stating that “due to violations of relevant laws and regulations, users is currently banned from posting.” It did not elaborate on which particular law or regulation it was deemed to have violated. Birth rates in the world’s most populous country have been a concern for authorities for generations.
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According to the state-run Securities Times newspaper, citing unnamed sources, the ban imposed on Wednesday will last for two weeks. Ren published two essays this week suggesting that the “most practical and most effective” way to stave off China’s falling birth rate is for a fertility fund to be distributed as monthly cash payments to the central bank. trillion yuan ($314 billion) would have to be printed. every child.
Ren wrote that if the central bank followed his suggestion, China could add 50 million births over the next decade, push its birth rate above the replacement rate and prevent a decline in the overall population. Ren did not immediately respond to a request for comment. For decades, China implemented a strict “one child” policy to limit population growth.
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The birth rate in 2020 fell to a record-low, or less than 1 percent, of 8.52 births per 1,000 people, official figures showed last November and in May, the government announced a move to boost the births of married couples by three There can be children. , Ren’s essay, originally published on his WeChat account and reposted on Weibo where he discussed extensively, was not available on any of the forums as of Thursday.
However, his WeChat account remains active, although he hasn’t posted anything new after the Weibo ban. The Securities Times also reported that the Weibo ban did not apply to other social media platforms. No stranger to controversy, Ren began his career as an economist with the research arm of the State Council of China, or cabinet. He became famous for accurately predicting the peak and crash of the Chinese stock market in 2015.
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