Beijing’s decision to encourage women to have three children for the nation is the wrong way forward. The choice to reverse course on the birthrate and aim for a return to the past — a nation of large families — will fail because it has failed everywhere else.

It will fail even more spectacularly in China and reflect poorly on the tenure of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). It is time for the CCP to come clean and ditch any association with pronatalism — an ideology that promotes higher birthrates. There are many officials in Beijing who know the approach is a sinking ship, a waste of time, money and on the wrong side of history.

The foreign press however went crazy over the Chinese News Agency report on May 31, heralding the decision for higher fertility as China’s salvation. Raising the birthrate, the foreign media stated with almost one voice, is the only way to rescue a Chinese economy suffering from an aging population.