China to maintain family planning policy

BEIJING - The Chinese government will keep its family planning policy unchanged as the populous nation still faces mounting resource and population pressures, an official said Monday.

China will not change its basic state policy on family planning, Wang Feng, deputy head of the State Commission Office for Public Sector Reform, told a press conference in response to a question regarding the possibility of a change in the policy.

The State Council, China's Cabinet, on Sunday unveiled a government restructuring plan which proposed to merge the existing Ministry of Health with the National Population and Family Planning Commission, among other restructuring proposals.

Wang said the proposed national health and family planning commission will strengthen implementation of the family planning policy in aspects of institutional setup, personnel and function allocation.

The restructuring plan is subject to deliberation of national lawmakers at the ongoing annual session of the National People's Congress.