[Kyodo: Guizhou couple 'punished' for having third child]

A Chinese couple in Guizhou Province have been subjected to severe disciplinary steps for having a 3rd child in defiance of the state guideline for controlling population growth. According to the Guizhou Daily, reaching Beijing Sunday, the wife, Wen Jifang, who had been deputy chief of a county people's court in the province, was stripped of the court post as a disciplinary measure. The husband, Lu Yutang, deputy chief of the public prosecutor's office in the same county, was ordered to receive sterilization surgery. In addition to the punishment, the county Communist Party committee harshly reprimanded the couple for having ignored the party's urging that an abortion be carried out, the paper siad. Both the husband and wife had their salaries cut, it said. The couple had 2 girls before the wife gave birth to a son last November despite the local party leadership's repeated persuasion for an abortion, the local paper said. The couple had the strong hope to have a boy, it said. The paper blasted the couple for failing to discard the "old thinking" setting a higher value on males. The local authorities' action against the couple received strong support among the general public in the province, the paper said. China is imposing strict control on population growth with the goal of zero growth by the end of this century. It failed to achieve last year's target which was a growth rate of less than 1%. China set a severe goal this year of allowing only 1 child for 95% of the total couples living in urban areas and for 90% of the couples in provincial areas. Couples who are Communist Party members are liable to harsher disciplinary action in case of "excessive" childbirth.