roving women's status, and guaranteeing the legal rights and interests of women. Over the past few years, the Chinese government has formulated plans, policies and measures in these fields, providing a more favourable environment for the implementation of family planning.
The Chinese government and the society as a whole have paid close attention to the recent tendency of the high sex ratio. The problem will be gradually solved through heightened publicity and education, and measures have been taken to guarantee the legal rights and interests of women and children; to severely prohibit, except when called for medically, the technical examination of fetus for determining sex followed by selective abortion; and to improve birth report and statistical system.
The Chinese government strongly believes that the problems that have appeared in the course of implementing China's family planning programme will be solved steadily in the process of reform and development, before it can be gradually improved and perfected.
In the practice of carrying out family planning programme, whilst persistently proceeding from its reality and taking into full account and observing principles and regulations concerning population and family planning formulated by international institutions and organizations, the Chinese government has gradually set up guiding principles, policies, measures and methods that reflect the basic interests and various rights and interests of the people, and has continuously improved these as the actual situations change, so as to better safeguard the right to subsistence and development of the Chinese nation.
It has been China's consistent stand and principle in international exchange and cooperation to fully respect the sovereignty of all nations, and not to interfere with the internal affairs of other nations. The "Programme of Action" adopted by the International Conference on Population and Development by that conference in Cairo, 1994, pointed out: "The formulation and implementation of population-related policies is the responsibility of each country and should take into account the economic, social and environmental diversity of conditions in each country, with full respect for the various religious and ethical values, cultural backgrounds and philosophical convictions of its people, as well as the shared but differentiated responsibilities of all the world's people for a common future." Only by proceeding from the reality of the country, independently setting up its population policy and target, as well as plans and measures to realize this target, can the population problem of each country be effectively solved. Positive results of solving population problem through international cooperation can only be achieved under the premise of respecting the sovereignty of each country, and by adopting the attitude of mutual understanding and the seeking of common ground while preserving differences. As the national situation, the degree and pattern of social and economic development, cultural habits and values, and the specific characteristics of the population problem in each country differ, there will be differences in the plan and dynamics of problem solving in each country, which is a normal phenomenon. Not only has China never imposed its ways and ideas of solving its own population problem on anyone else, but it has, instead, always understood and welcomed all good-intentioned criticism and useful suggestions from outside. However, some people, distorting or disregarding the basic facts, have made improper comments on China's family planning programme, criticizing it as a "violation of human rights," and denouncing it as "inhumane." They have even tried to impose their values and ideas on China, using the excuse of "protecting human rights" to put pressure on China and to interfere in China's internal affairs. This is totally unacceptable. Any such practice of interfering in China's internal affairs has not only deviated from the basic principle set up in the field of population by the international community, bu