China suspends authorities for ‘ignoring’ accused baby abduction

China has banned two health officials in a southern county for “ignoring” the case of a baby boy who was allegedly taken by local officials in the 1990s.

His parents have now requested that the police in Guangxi province look into the matter.

Nonetheless, a local health department refused to investigate the matter because of “social reallocation” under China’s one-child policy.

Social media users are furious with the authorities over the incident.

“Blatant case of human trafficking” was a common sentiment among critics of the one-child policy at the time.

According to a report in China’s state-run media, an investigation has been launched into the possibility of people trafficking in rural areas of China.

On Chinese social media earlier this week, a letter from the Quanzhou county health bureau sparked an outpouring of support for the local government. When a couple requested an investigation into the disappearance of their seventh child, they sent a letter in response to their request.

The Tang and Deng couple had requested that the police investigate several former local authorities.

According to local media sites, the parents said they had never given up hunting for their child and had filed multiple complaints with various government agencies.

Local health officials responded on July 1 and stated that an inquiry would not be launched because the child was not abducted but was taken away by the previous authority for “social reallocation.”

“Whereabouts of children who were relocated for the convenience of family planning work stretched out across China,” according to a state media source, the Global Times, was not recorded by the authority.

The letter soon spread over social media, with several critics of the program and others drawing attention to its usage of the term “social reallocation.”

Former editor-in-chief of the Global Times, Hu Xijin, spoke out against the government’s “indifferent” language and the “public crisis” that the episode had sparked.

The child’s mother said in an interview with Caixin that the family previously had to pay some fines to their local office for having more than one child. Nevertheless, she claims that her child was taken away despite this.

#QuanzhouOverBornKidCaseBeenReportedtoGovernment got approximately 60 million views as millions began debating the topic and outrage erupted. 

Government officials in Guilin, where Quanzhou is located, issued a letter on July 5 accusing the city’s health department of “improperly handling a petition that raised social concern.”

According to the statement, the health bureau’s director and deputy director have been suspended for “administrative inaction” and ignoring the petition.