Chinese fake birth certificate scandal raises child trafficking fears
- Hospitals in Hubei, Guangxi and Guangdong have been accused of providing false documents that can be used to register kidnapped babies under false names
- Police have detained several suspects and the national regulator has promised further action, including nationwide checks on medical certificates
Hospital staff in several cities across the country have been accused of selling fake birth certificates, which could be used to register kidnapped children with the local police and hide their true identity.
The scandal broke earlier this month when Shangguan Zhengyi, a long-term campaigner against child abduction, said he had found evidence that the director of a hospital in Xiangyang, a city in the central province of Hubei, was selling birth certificates, vaccine records and even babies to black market agents across the country.
Shangguan wrote on the social media platform Weibo that he had spent a year undercover investigating the city’s Jianqiao Hospital, adding: “Buyers only needed to provide identity information and pay 96,000 yuan (US$13,200) … The entire process can be completed within seven days.”
He added that the hospital provided the standard information provided for newborn children, which can then be used to register the fake identity with the authorities.
Following his exposé, hospitals in Nanning, in the southern region of Guangxi and Foshan in Guangdong have also been accused of providing fake birth certificates.