"Their [SONG Jian and PENG Peiyu's] unresolved clash could suggest the leadership remains torn over one of China's most divisive social issues, said a recently retired family planning official. How quickly it is settled may shed light on whether new President Xi Jinping will ease family-planning controls on a nation of 1.3 billion people.
"It is far from clear that radical reform of the one-child policy will win the ideological battle in Beijing, despite Song [, who favors continuation of the one-child policy] now representing a minority view among demographers in China. * * * And many officials in China's most heavily populated provinces - such as Henan and Shandong - believe the one-child policy is still necessary. * * * [However, m]any scholars and former family planning officials believe Xi will have no choice but to move to a two-child policy.