More than 600 people across China have been arrested on suspicion of selling children, according to a statement released Wednesday by the Ministry of Public Security.
The statement also said 178 children had been freed. There has been greater scrutiny of trafficking in children this year, in part because of news reports by Caixin Century Weekly that shed light on child abductions and child-selling in Hunan Province. Some children were later adopted by foreigners, Caixin reported.
Experts say the kidnapping and sale of children is a problem in China because of the country’s one-child policy and the cultural preference among many parents for boys. Families in many areas are fined heavily if they have more than one child and refuse to give up the others, and some officials have abducted children from such families. In addition, some parents are willing to sell girls so they can keep or try to conceive a son as their only child.
