President Xi Jinping made a splash by announcing that China will ease its one-child policy and end its notorious policy of re-education through labor camps . This is good news and represents an important step forward in reducing human rights abuses . But it would be naive to think this effort will seriously address the human rights problems in China . If human rights were the primary concern , more specific actions would have been taken . Xi and the Communist Party have other priorities . Under the new family planning policy , couples will be able to have two children if one spouse is an only child . Until now , both spouses need to be only children or they must be from the ethnic minorities to be allowed to have two children . This is a modest change that will mainly benefit the upwardly mobile middle class living in cities . The easing of the one-child policy can not end the main abuses associated with it since it does not put an end to forced termination of unauthorized pregnancies , even at very late term . Nor does it remove power from the local authorities in enforcing the one-child policy , who have regularly been responsible for abuses . The changes introduced are meant to deal with the projected decline in population , which would threaten China 's capacity to sustain its economic growth . They 're also meant to lessen the burden on the state in looking after the aging population before China becomes wealthy enough to handle the demands of its `` pensioners . '' The abolishment of the system of `` re-education through labor '' camps is a much more significant move . The existing policy gives local law enforcement agencies the power to detain `` undesirables '' -- people who are considered social misfits , prostitutes or troublemakers for authorities . The government can jail these people for several years and force them to work at next to no wage -- all without going through the judicial process and without receiving a conviction . There is absolutely no place for such a policy in any country in the 21st century . It 's about time that China do away with it . However , if the Communist Party were committed to tackle human rights abuses , it would have also outlawed other similar practices . Many of those jailed in labor camps are individuals who had grievances and tried to seek redress . Some of them were simply petitioners . They were deemed by local authorities to have challenged their power , or they were seen as destabilizing elements in society . Unless the practice of putting petitioners in `` black jails '' ( informal detention facilities ) is abolished , ending the labor camps will have limited effect in reducing human rights abuses . There is no indication other similarly repressive measures will be terminated . What the party will achieve is removing a source of discontent toward the government . By doing so , Xi projects himself as a reformer who is going beyond where his predecessors were willing to do . But so far , he has done nothing to allow ordinary citizens to challenge the Communist Party 's monopoly of power in any way , or acknowledge that the rights of dissidents or petitioners must be protected . What is obvious with these Xi reforms is that they are really meant for one purpose only . It is to strengthen the capacity of the Communist Party to govern more effectively and to reduce the reasons for the Chinese population to find the party 's rule objectionable . These changes will not alter the nature of the political system at all . China 's political system is anti-democratic in nature and is first and foremost dedicated to keeping the Communist Party in power .
Steve Tsang : It 's good that China ending one - party policy and banning of labor unions . He says it would be naive to think that this will erase human rights problems . He says the changes do not include outlawing other serious abuses . Tsang : Changes are meant to remove obstacles to policies of the party .