Chinese economist Ren Zeping banned from posting on Weibo after comments on financing childbirth stir controversy
- Weibo said in a notice at the top of Ren’s account that Ren had ‘violated relevant laws and regulations’
- Ren’s arguments provoked a backlash from analysts, some of whom suggested that the ideas were impractical
Chinese economist and online celebrity Ren Zeping was banned from posting on Weibo, China’s answer to Twitter, late on Wednesday after a string of controversial posts suggesting the central bank print 2 trillion yuan (US$314 billion) to support the birth of 50 million babies over the next 10 years sparked lively public debate.
Weibo said in a notice at the top of Ren’s account that Ren had “violated relevant laws and regulations”. Although Ren cannot post anything new, his account has not been deleted. Ren’s original articles have also been removed from his WeChat platform.
“The central bank [should] print an extra 2 trillion yuan to encourage society to have 50 million more kids in 10 years,” said Ren Zeping, China Evergrande Group’s former chief economist, in an article published on Monday and which soon went viral.
“This can solve China’s low-birth and ageing-population problems and energise the future without burdening people, companies and local governments. Based on our studies, this is the only, and the most practical, solution,” Ren said.
He also urged China to establish the fund as quickly as possible, so that older women born between 1975 and 1985 and conditioned to believe that more children are a blessing, could take advantage of it before they are no longer fertile.
Ren’s argument provoked a backlash from analysts, some of whom suggested that the ideas were impractical and lacked common sense. But Ren doubled down during a live-stream broadcast on Monday evening, saying that printing money to encourage births would become a reality in the next few years.